Iberian Lawyer’s Annual Energy and Renewables Special Report 2008 reveals a legal market full of confidence. Although the wider economy may be slowing, energy clients continue to offer law firms opportunities, reflecting Iberia’s position as a leading development centre for renewable energy technologies, and prompting demand for deeper sector expertise.

Despite efforts to liberalise Spain’s energy markets since 1997, first through the enactment of the Electricity Act and a year later the Gas & Oil Bill, the situation nonetheless remains unsettled, says Emiliano Garayar at Garayar Asociados , Spain’s leading energy law boutique.

Spain’s solar industry may be well established with a considerable body of best practice, but the sector remains one in which a solid understanding of the applicable regulatory regime is significant – particularly in the planning stage, says Miguel Riaño, energy and projects partner at Linklaters in Madrid.

For companies looking for outside investment or even to sell assets, environmental behaviour is now significant in terms of reputation and risk assessment and even valuation, says Claudio Monteiro, partner at Lisbon’s Serra Lopes Cortes Martins & Associados.

Spain’s solar power sector is a world leader and one in which there is continuing transactional activity as operators and investors seek to acquire assets, technology and expertise, says Juan Ignacio González Ruiz, energy and finance partner at Urí­a Menéndez

Water and wave power is playing an increasing role in Portugala´s renewable energy strategy but it is also a development that floats new legal and operational issues, say Manuel Andrade Neves and José Eduardo Martins at Abreu Advogados.