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RENEWABLE ENERGY (ELECTRICITY) AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2005 (NO. 2) (SLI NO 72 OF 2005)
Select Legislative Instrument 2005 No. 72
ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE
Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 2)
Subsection 161(1) of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (the Act) provides, in part, that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The Act provides the legislative framework for the implementation of the Government’s mandatory renewable energy target, announced by the Prime Minister on 20 November 1997. The mandatory renewable energy target is designed to increase the amount of electricity in Australia that has been generated from renewable energy sources. By 2010, an additional 9,500 Giga Watt hours (GWh) of electricity will be required to be supplied from renewable energy sources, raising the contribution that renewable energy sources make to Australia’s electricity supply.
The Act requires wholesale purchasers of electricity (liable parties) to surrender ‘renewable energy certificates’ to the Renewable Energy Regulator, or pay a penalty. Liable parties meet a share of the target, in proportion to their share of the national wholesale electricity market. The Act also establishes the framework for renewable energy generators (eligible parties) to create renewable energy certificates that can then be sold to liable parties to meet their requirements under the Act.
The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations) provide the administrative framework to implement the Act in relation to power station accreditation, eligibility requirements for fuel sources, and calculation methods for determining the number of renewable energy certificates that can be claimed.
The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Principal Regulations to
Further details of the Regulations are set out in Attachment A.
Subsection 161(2) of the Act provides that draft regulations must be available for public comment for a period of not less than 30 days before the regulations are made. In accordance with subsection 161(2) of the Act, the Regulations have been available for public comment for a period of no less than 30 days.
Regulations 1 to 3 and Schedule 1 would be taken to have commenced on the 25 November 2004, while Schedules 2 and 3 commence on the day after the Regulations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
It is intended that eligibility for renewable energy certificates for the new solar water heater models be backdated to the date on which certification to Australian Standard 2712:2002 was obtained. This would prevent manufacturers being disadvantaged by the time required to update the list of eligible solar water heater models in the Principal Regulations. The benefits that the manufacturers gain from the new models being listed in the Regulations would be able to be accessed for past sales, back to the date of certification against Australian Standard 2712:2002. Although the eligibility for renewable energy certificates would be backdated, the Australian Government Solicitor has previously advised that the proposed amendment would not have a retrospective effect and that subsection 48(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 would not have any application in respect of the proposed Regulations (Attachment B refers).
Since that time, the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 has removed that provision from the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. Subsection 12 (2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 is in substantially the same terms as subsection 48 (2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901. The Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing agrees with the advice from the Australian Government Solicitor and has advised that subsection 12 (2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 does not apply to the proposed legislative instrument because it does not ‘take effect before the date it is registered’. The proposed amendments would not confer any rights or impose any obligations on any date before registration (Attachment C refers).
The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Attachment A
Regulation 1 - Name of Regulations
This provides that the name of the Regulations is the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Regulations 2005 (No. 2).
Regulation 2 - Commencement
Regulations 1 to 3 and Schedule 1 would be taken to have commenced on 25 November 2004. Schedules 2 and 3 would commence on the day after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Regulation 3 - Amendment of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001
This Regulation provides for Schedule 1 to amend the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 (the Principal Regulations). This Regulation also provides for Schedule 2 to amend the Principal Regulations as amended by Schedule 1. This Regulation also provides for Schedule 3 to amend the Principal Regulations as amended by Schedule 2.
Item 1 – Table of amendments
Items 1 to 127 – Schedule 7, Part 2
These items amend Part 2 of Schedule 7 by:
· inserting additional solar water heater models that have become eligible for renewable energy certificates under the regulations since Part 2 of Schedule 7 was last revised on 25 November 2004;
· revising renewable energy certificate calculations for existing eligible solar water heater models that have changed since last revised on 25 November 2004; and
· deleting solar water heater models which are no longer eligible, as their eligibility has lapsed.
Item 1 – Schedule 7, Part 2, items