PhD candidate, Groningen Centre of Energy Law, University of Groningen

Email address: j.j.a.waverijn (at) rug.nl

Biography:

Jaap Waverijn is a lawyer at Stibbe in Amsterdam working in the Energy & Industry practice group and a doctoral researcher at the Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS) .

Jaap Waverijn was a doctoral researcher at the Groningen Centre of Energy Law (GCEL) of the University of Groningen, focusing on legal solutions to stimulate investments and reduce the costs of investments in the (offshore and renewable) energy sector. He is founder of Energy Law Research Community ENERLEX and has, since 2011, been involved with the coordination of the part-time LLM for professionals North Sea Energy Law Programme (NSELP).

He has visited the European University Institute and Florence School of Regulation and is a member of the International Project Finance Association and Dutch Energy Law Association, both professional networks, and the academic NYU-Copenhagen Transatlantic Maritime Emissions Research Network TRAMEREN.

Jaap graduated top of his year from the University of Groningen with a Bachelor in Dutch Law and is an alumnus of the University of Groningen Honours College. He holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge in international and European law and attended the NSELP teaching periods on Electricity and Gas: Liberalising and Regulating the Market (Groningen), Upstream Oil and Gas: Public and Contractual Law Aspects (Oslo), Energy Investments, Trade and Security (Aberdeen) and Green Energy, Climate and Sustainability (Copenhagen).

Research interests:

Jaap is interested in identifying legal barriers to the energy transition in international, European and national law. His PhD research concerns the financing of offshore energy installations and legal questions which should be addressed in order to increase legal certainty in this area, thereby lowering the costs and stimulating investments.

His law of the sea research, among others, covers the public and private law limits of coastal state jurisdiction to regulate energy activities in different maritime zones and the legal distinction between islands, artificial islands, installations, constructions and ships. European law topics include questions of EU competence to regulate maritime zones such as the exclusive economic zone and how the ECJ has dealt with this area where European law and law of the sea meet. National topics currently include different issues of property law, in particular ownership and the options to establish security rights against offshore installations, which arise in multiple jurisdictions.

Publications relevant to international energy law:

CG Verburg & JJA Waverijn, ‘Liberalizing the Global Supply Chain of Renewable Energy Technology: The Role of International Investment Law in Facilitating Flows of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade’, Brill Open Law (Brill 2019), available online.

‘Navigating legal barriers to mortgage energy installations at sea’, in C. Banet and E. Røsag (eds), New uses and abuses of the seabed (Brill 2020), open access.

‘Swimming in ECJ case law: The rocky journey to EU law applicability in the continental shelf and Exclusive Economic Zone’, Common Market Law Review Volume 56, Issue 6 (2019) pp. 1623 – 1648 (with C. Nieuwenhout)

‘Liberalizing the Global Supply Chain of Renewable Energy Technology: The Role of International Investment Law in Facilitating Flows of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade’, Brill Open Law (Brill 2019), open access (with C.G. Verburg).

In Dutch

‘Financing a Sustainable Future’, MilieuMagazine (2016). [Een duurzame toekomst financieren]

Teaching in the field of energy law:

Lectures within courses:

Energy (project) finance (Groningen, LLM 2015-18) lecture in the course Energy Investment and Trade Law

Offshore wind: Finance, subsidies and insurance (NHL and InHolland, BSc 2015-17)

Law of the sea (Groningen, George Washington University Law School, JD/LLM/BSc 2017) lecture on limits to jurisdiction over natural resources

Law of the sea and energy (project) finance (Hanze Groningen, Zaragoza and Pisa joint master 2016)

See also: Jaap’s LinkedIn page and institutional profile