Romania won last week the ARB 20/35 case on renewable energy, and will receive more than 1.7 million euros from the plaintiffs, representing half of the representation costs, and 218,458.76 dollars representing 50% of the arbitration costs, the Ministry Finance informs through a press release
"Romania received on 16.01.2025, the decision of the Arbitral Tribunal constituted in line with the ICSID Convention in case no. ARB/20/35, through which it is established that Romania has not violated any of the guarantees granted to investors by the Energy Charter Treaty and exonerates the Romanian state of any obligation to pay the damages requested by the plaintiffs. The court also ordered the plaintiffs to pay Romania the sum of 1,741,900.28 euros (representing 50% of the representation costs borne by Romania) and the sum of 218,458.76 dollars (representing 50% of the arbitration costs borne by Romania)", the release mentioned.
According to the cited source, the legal basis of the action formulated by the plaintiffs is the Energy Charter Treaty ratified by Romania through Law no. 14/1997 for the ratification of the Energy Charter Protocol on energy efficiency and environmental issues, concluded in Lisbon on December 17, 1994. In its consolidated written defenses, Romania rejected the plaintiffs' accusations and formulated a series of exceptions regarding the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal.
The plaintiffs, 28 individuals and 16 legal entities, organized into 15 groups of investors who developed 31 photovoltaic power plants/parks in Romania, argued that, based on the legislation in Romania in the field of renewable energy (Law no. 220/2008 with subsequent changes up to the level of 2013) put into operation several photovoltaic parks, located in many counties in Romania. Considering the existing legislation at that time, the investors state that they were convinced that the support scheme in renewable energy was to apply for a period of 15 years cumulatively with certain (progressive) quotas established for the energy produced from renewable sources.
"Also, the investors stated that in the period 2014-2018, Romania adopted a series of normative acts (Law no. 23/2014, Emergency Ordinance no. 24/2017, Law no. 184/2018) which radically modified Law no. 220/2008, in essence: the system of fixed annual quotas was eliminated; the period of the validity of green certificates from 16 months to 12 months; the quotas of energy produced from renewable sources were significantly reduced compared to those established initially; the price of green certificates was reduced from 55 euros to 35 euros", the release communicated.
According to the investors, these measures changed the regulatory framework on the basis of which they developed their investments, resulting in considerable losses compared to the planned ones.
In conclusion, the investors claim that following the frequent legislative changes in the field of renewable energy, Romania has violated the provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty regarding fair and equitable treatment and the prohibition of illegal expropriations. In this sense, during the litigation, the plaintiffs quantified the claims requested from Romania in the amount of approximately 256 million euros (without interest).