SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy is energy from the sun. It can be used either to generate electricity or to provide heat. A world distribution map of solar energy is shown below.
The potential for solar energy is particularly noticeable in Africa. In Europe the most significant potential is Spain.
Spain instituted regulations in 2007 that had a generous feed-in-tariff (FIT). By 2008, Spain was responsible for more than half the world’s new solar developments. Spanish solar regulation did not have suitable mechanisms to adjust the FIT, to limit solar capacity and to support the electrical infrastructure. Spain acted in 2010 by reforming its regulations by limiting the output of solar power, reducing the FIT and introduced taxes on energy provided to the grid with many of the changes applying retroactively. These changes led to numerous claims against Spain by solar developers.
The claims against Spain primarily relied on the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Spain faced fifty claims totaling 8 billion euros. To date arbitration tribunals have decided 21 of the 28 cases against Spain and awarded 1.2 billion euros in damages.
Spain has refused to pay any damages and together with Venezuela, Russian and Argentina has one of the highest unpaid arbitration awards totals in the world. The European Court of Justice decided that the arbitration provision in the ECT did not apply to EU member states. Spain is now looking to withdraw from the ECT.