Round Table: “Legal scenarios arising from the objections to the renewable energy reform”

The discussion received input from Gerardo Codes, Director of Global Regulatory Services and Corporate Affairs at Iberdrola, José Antonio García, Principal of The Brattle Group, and Juan Rodríguez Cárcamo, Partner of the Public and Regulated Sectors practice at Pérez-Llorca and State Advocate on leave of absence. Marina Serrano, Of Counsel at Pérez-Llorca and State Advocate on leave of absence, moderated the session.

Gerardo Codes, Director of Global Regulatory Services and Corporate Affairs at Iberdrola, a leading company in the renewable energy sector, started the session by presenting the company and its approach. He analysed the judgments of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court on the reform and concluded with an analysis of other relevant aspects of the sector, such as taxation and the differing positions of domestic and foreign investors.

José Antonio García, Principal of The Brattle Group Madrid, then explained the figure of the expert and presented an economic analysis of the damages in the arbitrations against the Kingdom of Spain. He also discussed the principal differences between the different awards issued to date.

Lastly, Juan Rodríguez Cárcamo, Partner of the Public and Regulated Sectors practice at Pérez-Llorca and State Advocate on leave of absence, focused his presentation on the implications of the issue from the perspective of the European Union. He explained the position of the European Commission with regard to investment arbitration, the implications of possible compensation arising from an award from the point of view of state aid and finished by reviewing the most significant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding renewable energy.

The event closed with a lively round of questions in which various concerns in the sector regarding the future of renewable energy were raised.