Abstract
It has been suggested that the complexity and uncertainty arising out of New Zealand’s current legal framework for regulating offshore renewable energy poses a key barrier to achieving New Zealand’s renewable energy goals. The New Zealand government has recently announced that it is in the process of developing a new regulatory framework for offshore renewable energy, however it remains unclear whether the framework will be a novel piece of legislation, maintain the status quo of the current regime or be some hybrid of the two.
This dissertation will examine the operation of the existing consenting framework for regulating offshore wind development in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and attempt to determine whether an appropriate balance is being struck between environmental protection and incentivising renewable energy development in pursuit of our climate goals. If the current framework fails to achieve this equilibrium, there may be a need for adjustments to the current framework, mirroring reforms undertaken overseas to align environmental safeguards with developmental incentives.