Further solar investment dispute cases decided in favour of Czech Republic

Further solar investment dispute cases decided in favour of Czech Republic

The Czech government has successfully defended itself in  another four  investment treaty cases brought by international investors in solar photo-voltaic (PV) power plants, as reported in Global Arbitration Review.

The first decision in favour of the Czech Republic in  relation to similar solar PV cases came  in 2017.   Wynne Jones, Director in Frontier’s Energy practice, was engaged by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer to provide expert testimony in these cases, on behalf of the Czech government.

In 2005, the Czech Republic introduced a feed in tariff for electricity generated from solar PV plants, to help support increased use of solar PV in the generation mix. Subsequently, solar PV costs fell substantially below the level of the feed in tariff, causing a surge in investment. This series of cases concerned the set of measures that were then introduced, including a tax on electricity generated from solar PV plants. The Czech Government argued that the measures did not violate investors’ legitimate expectations and represented a reasonable response to a crisis.

Frontier regularly provides expert testimony in energy sector investor state and commercial arbitrations. 

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