Renewable Energy Law & Policy

Renewable Energy Law & Policy - Professor Melissa Powers

• Course Number: LAW-491
• Course Type: Highly Specialized
• Credits: 3
• Enrollment Limit: Determined by the Registrar
• Description: This class will cover the laws and policies designed to promote renewable energy development. The course will review the existing renewable energy technologies and the practical limitations involved in their development, siting, and integration into the U.S. electricity grid. The course will also explore the most common renewable energy laws, including subsidies, renewable portfolio standards, PURPA, and net metering. The course will consider how these laws operate within the existing electricity regulatory system and examine recent efforts to reform utility regulation. Finally, the course will explore transmission regulation for renewable resources and the legal and policy framework for electricity storage. The class will focus on renewable energy development in the United States, but may also provide some comparative examples of renewable energy policies used in other countries.
• Prerequisite: Students must have taken Energy Law: Electricity Regulation or Energy Transitions in the West or Energy Resources: Law & Policy or have received a waiver from the professor. To receive a waiver, students must demonstrate some familiarity with the ways in which electric utilities are regulated, the laws and principles affecting state and federal jurisdiction, and basic terminology applicable to electricity regulation.
• Evaluation Method: Regular quizzes, class participation, and a final exam. Evaluation may also include a short paper, oral examination, or in-class practical simulation.
• Capstone: no
• WIE: no