Brattle Client Awarded Nearly €28 Million in Latest Spain Renewable Energy Arbitration Matter

An International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) tribunal earlier this year ordered the Kingdom of Spain to pay nearly €28 million to Brattle client STEAG Energy Services, a German investor, for violating the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). This is the latest win for Brattle clients in a series of several disputes with Spain in recent years, and is among nearly 50 treaty claims the country has faced over changes to their renewable energy policies.

In 2015, STEAG filed a claim against Spain regarding its 25% stake in the Arenales concentrated solar power (CSP) plant located in Seville, holding that the country breached the fair and equitable treatment standard of the ECT, an international agreement that requires fair and equitable treatment of foreign investors. Another shareholder in the plant, Deutsche Bank affiliate RREEF, filed a similar ICSID claim and consequently was awarded nearly €60 million in 2020.

Brattle was hired in 2017 to provide independent expert witness testimony, and Principals Richard Caldwell and José Antonio Garcia both testified in the case and provided damages calculations ahead of their testimony.

In October 2020, the ICSID tribunal issued found that Spain breached STEAG’s legitimate expectations and issued a partial award on jurisdiction, liability, and directions on the quantum of damages. In the final August 2021 award on quantum, the tribunal ruled on the historical damages due to STEAG and the impact of STEAG’s sale of its stake in Arenales, which occurred in February 2020. The tribunal used Brattle’s calculation for the value of this sale to help determine the final damages amount.