UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Brendan Hundt, Dan Feldman, Sam Anastasiou and Saiesh Kamath, King & Spalding LLP
usufruct, EIA where required, construction and civil- defence permits, grid connection, testing and com- mercial-operation certification. Public hearings are not a general requirement for utili- ty-scale power projects. Major projects are developed through tenders and input may be sought, in practice, from targeted audiences like institutional stakehold- ers, industry and financiers, among others. Social, environmental and planning impacts are addressed primarily through the competent authorities’ permit- ting and assessment processes, rather than through a general public-hearing process. An EIA and environmental permit are required under Federal Law No 24 of 1999, and are administered in Abu Dhabi by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi and by the Dubai Municipality in Dubai. An Opera- tional Environmental Management Plan/permit gov- erns operations and must be renewed periodically. Details related to approvals for nuclear power plants are provided in our response to 3.1 Constructing and Operating Generation Facilities . As the authorisations required are distributed across various government authorities, there does not appear to be a single regulator with authority to grant all approvals required in relation to the construction and operation of power projects. From a project-management perspective, it is impor- tant to note that these approvals may be interdepend- ent. A grid connection condition might affect plant design, an environmental approval may affect con- struction methodology, a land condition may affect route access, and a lender requirement may affect the timing of notice to proceed. A credible development timetable needs to account for long-lead approvals, not just construction mobilisation. 3.3 Approvals to Construct and Operate Generation Facilities Typical terms and conditions include: • for a sector generation licence, a prohibition on selling output to anyone but the sole procurer, compliance with the transmission/grid code, insur-
ance, if any, and performance under the PPA and connection agreement, among others; • for environmental permits, adherence to approved EIA and design measures, emission limits, ongo- ing monitoring and reporting, waste and hazardous material handling, among others; greenhouse gas measurement and reduction obligations may now also apply under Federal Decree Law No 11 of 2024; and • for a nuclear licence, each licence determines conditions, measures and requirements, which may include authorised activities, radiation protection, security, safeguards and non-proliferation, environ- mental monitoring and emergency preparedness, among others. Amendments normally require an application to the authority, utility or counterparty that imposed the condition. In a project-financed plant, any proposed relaxation affecting output, tariff, availability, environ- mental compliance, security or termination rights may also affect offtake documents, financing documents and applicable regulatory approvals. Post-approval changes should be assessed across all relevant approval and project-document workstreams. A change in plant configuration, fuel arrangements, emissions profile, grid connection design, metering arrangements, export capacity or operating regime may require amendments or confirmations under the sector licence, environmental approval, grid con- nection agreement, PPA, construction approvals or financing documents. 3.4 Eminent Domain, Condemnation and Expropriation Rights to Construct and Operate Generation Facilities A private generation proponent has no independent power of eminent domain, condemnation or expro- priation. The UAE Constitution allows for the power to expropriate but it may be exercised only by the state for public benefit. Since the UAE power sector is state-owned and generation serves a public ben- efit, there is an argument to be made that the relevant government/utility can invoke expropriation to acquire land to grant to a project company through the rel- evant utility.
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