Planning Law: Friend or Foe of Renewable Energy?

Abstract

This paper highlights several aspects of the emerging body of law relating to renewable energy across Australia with a particular focus on the east coast jurisdictions. It argues that pricing carbon (the incorrectly named ‘carbon tax’) and the renewable energy target scheme are actually only a small part of the regulatory equation when it comes to renewable energy in Australia. Focusing on regulation of the national electricity market and planning law, the paper argues that proponents of renewable energy projects face a myriad of regulatory hurdles that often act contrary to the professed legislative objective of both the carbon price and the renewable energy scheme to promote the growth of renewable energy.