Renewable Energy Law - JURD7470
Faculty: Faculty of Law
School: Faculty of Law
Course Outline: See below
Campus: Sydney
Career: Postgraduate
Units of Credit: 6
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2
Enrolment Requirements:
Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.
Excluded: LAWS8070
CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)
Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule
Further Information: See Class Timetable
View course information for previous years.
Description
Matthew Baird is an Australian barrister with over 25 years involvement in planning and environmental law. He is Australia’s foremost presenter on nuclear law issues, and has been involved in successful challenges to major projects based on climate change grounds. He has an extensive background in public participation and the due process rules relating to the assessment of major projects and critical infrastructure projects. For the past three years his expertise in climate change litigation has been recognised by his inclusion as the only barrister in Best Lawyers Australia – Climate Change. Matthew has consulted on EIA training in Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar. Matthew conducted the first training session on EIA for civil society groups in Yangon, Myanmar. He has also been working on the re-drafting of the EIA Law for Cambodia in conjunction with the Ministry of the Environment and Vishnu Law Group. Matthew is currently consulting with the Asian Development Bank on the establishment of the Asian Judges Network on Environment.
Recommended Prior Knowledge
Course Learning Outcomes
- Know the key concepts, history, principles and issues relating to development of sustainable energy in the Australian context;
- Explain and critically evaluate the current international, national and New South Wales regulatory framework for various types of renewable energy sources in Australia;
- Demonstrate a good understanding of the current regulatory framework in NSW;
- Explain and be able to analyse the particular challenges and issues arising in the specialised application of the regulatory framework to particular energy sources in Australia;
- Assess and apply the existing, broader framework of environmental and planning law to renewable energy projects in NSW;
- Navigate and apply key environmental legal texts, both statutory and judicial, to hypothetical fact scenarios;
- Demonstrate effective oral communication skills by presenting, discussing and debating course concepts in a scholarly, reflective and respectful manner;
- Demonstrate effective written communication skills by articulating legal concepts clearly, persuasively and appropriately;
- Demonstrate an ability to incorporate a range of legal and interdisciplinary research sources in written communication with appropriate referencing.
Main Topics
- Introduction to Australia’s renewable energy resources, current status of development and future prospects in a carbon constrained world;
- Overview of origins and development of renewable energy law in Australia;
- Renewable energy law frameworks: the CPRS and renewable energy target legislation;
- Other legislative and policy incentives for promotion of renewable energy e.g feed-in tariffs;
- Renewable energy and regulation of the National Electricity Market
- Technology specific state based legislative regimes: for wind energy and geothermal energy;
- Emerging legal regimes for off-shore renewable energy (wind, wave and tidal energy)
- Legal issues concerning bio-fuels
- Planning approval, environmental impact assessment and renewable energy projects
- Property law issues associated with renewable energy projects including regulating rights to solar access
- Consumer protection laws and green power schemes.
Assessment
Class presentation: 15%
Research essay (6000 words): 75%
Course Texts
Prescribed
Resources
Study Levels
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