Imogen Calderwood
ANDALUCIA’S Andasol power plant is at the centre of a legal battle worth ‘hundreds of millions of euros’.
Nine investors in the Granada-based solar power plant – the largest in Europe at two square kilometres – are suing Spain, after cuts to solar energy subsidies caused massive falls in profit.
The lawsuit claims that Spain’s decision to reduce subsidies paid for electricity produced by solar power amounts to wrongful government appropriation.
Spanish and German investors are suing Spain under the Energy Charter Treaty, which 54 states – including Spain – have signed.
The charter gives investors of those countries the right to sue signatories if their investments are not protected or are illegally damaged through state legislation.
A 2007 government campaign, telling Spaniards that ‘the sun could be yours’, encouraged investment in solar power in return for high subsidies.
But the government’s enthusiasm for renewable energy was slashed by the financial crisis, along with the promised subsidies in January 2014.
This is the 10th case pending against Spain at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and will be the first of 2015.
All the court cases against Spain following the cuts amount to billions of euros worth of claims against the state.
Only a country as daft as Spain could cock up a solar energy business.
I can hear the lawyers now – champagne time boys and lots of it.
I live very close to this and it uses natural gas as well, every day we see gas tankers going in
I guess the “Brown Envelopes & Black Credit Cards” & other such dealings have depleted the Spanish Treasury so they no longer “have enough funds” to pay for projects that truly help ALL Spanish people, not just the elite. Spain needs better government & business officials.
Not only did the gov renege on the deal and drop the agreed price (per unit of electricity) by upto 80% but they also demanded a repayment of all the subsidies from the start of the projects. yes plural. Other solar plants around andalucia are in the same boat. And as the gov here can dip into everyones bank accounts without prior legal action, these companies/projects are finished.
Only in spain!