Solar Wars Part V: Achmea – A Phantom Menace?

In our previous four Solar Wars articles, we considered arbitral awards in respect of investors' claims under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) arising out of the curtailment of renewable incentive schemes across Europe and the European Commission's (EC) statements that those claims breached EU law.

In an article published on 5 April 2018, we commented on the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Slovak Republic v Achmea (Case C-284/16), which held that an arbitration clause in bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between two EU states contravened EU law. In that article, we considered whether Achmea applies to intra-EU arbitrations under the ECT. A recent award has shed some light on that issue.