BRUSSELS — The European Commission launched an investigation Wednesday into whether Romania can pay out €42 million in compensation to renewable energy investors who claimed they lost out after Bucharest changed its green energy support scheme a decade ago.
An arbitral tribunal found that Romania breached the Energy Charter Treaty by changing a 2011 support scheme for renewable electricity, causing losses to 10 companies that invested in solar photovoltaic projects.
But the payment could violate EU state aid rules. The Commission’s preliminary view is that both the arbitration award and its implementation constitute state aid incompatible with the internal market, it said in a statement.
A parallel dispute is playing out in Spain, where investors are seeking to enforce arbitration awards after Madrid scaled back its own renewable energy support schemes.
