Robert Lane

Head of Regulated Industries,

Robert Lane is Head of Regulated Industries at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP and has been advising in the energy sector for over 20 years.

He has worked extensively on the England & Wales electricity restructuring, including preparing the Grid Code, advising on the legislative and licensing framework, the trading arrangements (originally the pool and now the bilateral balancing arrangements), connection and use of system arrangements, the interconnector agreements, ancillary services arrangements and metering.  He also restructured the Northern Ireland electricity system, acting for NIE, where a similar range of issues was dealt with, although with originally a ‘Single Buyer’ market. 

He continues to advise in both places including on the “New Electricity Trading Arrangements” (NETA) in England and Wales, on the new connection arrangements (CUSC), and on expansion of the markets to Scotland (BETTA).  In Northern Ireland as well as the original restructuring, and ongoing commercial advice, he has advised on the further opening of the market, for the current full implementation of the IME Directive.  He has advised on the “All Island Market” covering a joint trading system for the north and south of the island of Ireland, which has involved the putting in place of a “pool” cross-border.  This includes advice on legislation, licences, codes, agreements, transition arrangements and some unique cross-border issues arising as part of the new structure.

He advises on commercial and regulatory issues in the UK generally, and acts for Generators and Distribution businesses, and for purchasers and sellers of energy assets and companies.  Recent transactions have included power station purchases for infrastructure funds, and bids for electricity wires and generation companies.  He also advises on renewables issues.

He has also worked, and continues to work, throughout the world acting for governments, regulators and electricity companies, including on the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks.  Thus he has worked on restructurings and privatisations in India, Victoria Australia, Ontario Canada, Republic of Ireland, the Philippines, Poland, Greece, South Africa, Italy, Belgium, the United States, CEE generally (where he has recently acted on the sale of 66% of the Slovak Generating Company to Enel), the Balkans where he has designed a cross-border trading system and Russia.