115Grant of special licences

115 Grant of special licences

(1)  Where a body corporate –

(a) intends to use water for the purpose of the generation of an annual average of at least 400 gigawatt hours of electricity or for purposes reasonably incidental to that purpose; and

(b) has demonstrated its capacity to do so –

the body corporate may apply to the Minister for the grant of a special licence under this Division.

(2)  A special licence must be granted on an application under subsection (1) if the Advisory Committee is satisfied that it would be consistent with the objectives of this Act to do so.

(3)  For the purposes of this section, the Advisory Committee must determine any conditions to be imposed –

(a) in order to protect the rights of existing users of water from the relevant water resource; and

(b) in order to meet the needs for water of ecosystems that depend on the relevant water resource, having particular regard to the quantity of water needed and the times at which, or the periods during which, those ecosystems will need that water.

(4)  A special licence may also be granted for a specified purpose on application in writing by a proposed licensee where the Advisory Committee is satisfied that it would be consistent with the objectives of this Act to do so and the licence is to be subject to such conditions as the Committee may determine.

(5)  [Section 115 Subsection (5) inserted by No. 56 of 2008, s. 53, Applied:11 Feb 2009] An application under this section must be in accordance with section 12A .