Search: Boalt School of Law, Energy

This course will explore the key commercial, legal, economic and policy issues affecting the development and financing of infrastructure projects, with special emphasis on practical concerns related to investments in alternative energy and other power generation facilities. Many of these topics will be raised in the context of comparative, real-world case studies of different types of energy and infrastructure projects: (1) a wind power plant (including monetization of tax credits and use of bank debt), (2) toll roads in California and Mexico (using bank debt, long term bonds, and government support), (3) an offshore oil and gas project in Brazil (using bank debt, foreign equity, and multilateral and export credit support), (4) a Chilean airport privatization (using capital markets), and (5) divergent financing strategies and market approaches of energy companies like Calpine, Enron Europe and BP Amoco, among others.

Energy production and use drive the world’s economies and offer hope for growth and prosperity. Yet, the extraction and use of fuels and the development of energy facilities are among the greatest threats to the global environment. This course introduces students to the legal, economic, and structural issues that both shape our energy practices and provide opportunities to overcome these critical problems. The course focuses primarily on the regulation and design of electricity systems and markets since so many energy choices–the use of oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear, the green alternatives such as solar, wind, and energy conservation or “demand side management”– relate to the way we generate or deliver electricity, or avoid the need to do so. Next to the use of petroleum for transportation, electric generation is the greatest contributor to air pollution and the greatest source of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, as urban and suburban development spread across the land, the maintenance and expansion of the electric transmission grid provide increasingly challenging land use problems.The course examines both the traditional monopoly model of regulation and evolving competitive alternatives. The course exposes students to energy resource planning, pollution management, rate design, green markets, energy efficiency, demand side management, renewable energy portfolios, climate change and carbon management. The course provides an introduction to administrative law and to practice issues in the field.