Brussels opens state aid probe into Romania's 42.2 million euro solar award

The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether Romania’s payment of EUR 42.2 million to ten solar developers under an arbitration award constitutes unlawful State aid. The decision, notified to Romania by letter dated 29 July 2026, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 October 2026 under reference C/2026/5197.

The case, registered as SA.113263 (2024/NN), concerns the award rendered on 20 February 2024 by a tribunal established under the auspices of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in the proceedings LSG Building Solutions GmbH and others v. Romania (ICSID Case No. ARB/18/19). The tribunal found that Romania breached Article 10(1) of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) by amending its green certificates support scheme, and ordered compensation plus interest and costs. Romania notified the award to the Commission on 19 March 2024, and on 31 May 2024 paid RON 256,020,536.28 (about EUR 51 million) into a special-purpose account opened in the claimants’ name at the Romanian State Treasury.

The claimants and the solar plants

The ten claimants are project developers that invested in five solar photovoltaic plants in southern Romania between 2011 and 2013:

• LSG Building Solutions GmbH, Green Source Consulting GmbH, Core Value Investments GmbH & Co. KG Gamma and Core Value Capital GmbH, incorporated in Austria;
• Anina Pro Invest Ltd. and Giust Ltd., incorporated in Cyprus;
• Risen Energy Solar Project GmbH and Pressburg UK GmbH, incorporated in Germany;
• Solluce Romania 1 B.V., incorporated in the Netherlands;
• SC LJG Green Source Energy BETA S.R.L, incorporated in Romania.

The plants are CEF Slobozia (45 MWp, Giurgiu), CEF Izvoarele (20 MWp, Giurgiu), CEF Izvoarele 2 (50 MWp, Giurgiu), CEF Frǎsinet 2 (9.5 MWp, Cǎlǎraşi) and CEF Frǎsinet 3 (5.4 MWp, Cǎlǎraşi). All benefited from the green certificates scheme created by Romanian Law 220/2008, approved by the Commission on 13 July 2011 (SA.33134) and later amended, with approvals on 4 May 2015 (SA.37177) and 16 December 2016 (SA.46894). The scheme’s budget was initially estimated at EUR 19.5 billion and later revised to EUR 17.4 billion.

Brussels’ preliminary findings

The Commission takes the preliminary view that the award, and in any event its implementation, meets the cumulative criteria for State aid under Article 107(1) TFEU: it is imputable to Romania and financed through State resources, confers a selective advantage on the claimants, and distorts competition and trade in liberalised energy and investment markets. Because the aid was granted on 20 February 2024 before any Commission approval, the Commission considers it unlawful and put into effect in violation of Article 108(3) TFEU. It also expresses doubts about compatibility, noting that the award could contravene Article 19(1) TEU, Articles 267 and 344 TFEU and the principles of mutual trust and autonomy of EU law, following the Achmea and Komstroy case law.

Amounts and next steps

Romania’s own figures put the total due at EUR 50,979,086, comprising:

• EUR 42,200,000 in compensation, plus EUR 5,214,100 in post-award interest accrued to 31 May 2024;
• EUR 525,000 and EUR 2,995,701 in defence expenses, plus interest;
• USD 503,610.17 in arbitration costs and USD 3,241,048 in legal costs.

Post-award interest runs at one-year Euribor plus 3%, annually compounded, from 1 January 2022. Romania’s annulment action was dismissed by an ad hoc committee on 18 February 2026, and the claimants filed an enforcement complaint before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on 7 July 2026. Interested parties have one month from publication to submit comments to the Commission’s State Aid Greffe.

The decision matters beyond Romania: it signals that the Commission will treat intra-EU arbitration awards as recoverable State aid, exposing investors who enforce such awards to repayment claims under Article 16 of Council Regulation (EU) 2015/1589. Romania must make no further payment and must take all measures to prevent enforcement of the award in the EU or in third countries.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/5197, 6 October 2026, section I (official reference: CELEX C/2026/5197).