"Green" generation filed many claims against Guaranteed Buyer due to debts

Investors in renewable energy sources in Ukraine have reason to go to court both due to debts as well as compensation for lost income because of restructuring. Maksym Sysoev, partner of Kyiv office of international law firm Dentons, said this during the Discussion Hub "Energy Vector of Ukraine" organized by Legal High School.

He recalled that the new law on improving the conditions for supporting the production of electric energy from alternative energy sources guarantees FIT and the mandatory purchase of generated electricity.

“This is a set of guarantees under which investors have the right to demand a certain compensation for lost income. And we have the opportunity to collect the debt on the basis of the purchase agreement at FIT. Nowadays, quite a few claims have been filed against Guaranteed Buyer. We see that the enterprise is delaying this process on various procedural bases,” he said.

According to the lawyer, there is another possibility – to file a claim in arbitration in Paris. But given that this is a rather expensive process, it is unlikely that there will be many such claims, Sysoev suggests.

“And it doesn't make much sense. As we understand, Guaranteed Buyer has no money yet. And it will be difficult to collect the corresponding debt,” the lawyer noted. But the state does not give guarantees for wind farms and SPPs on pre-PPA and the question remains whether investors' expectations are legitimate, Sysoev says. According to the lawyer, individual investors will try to get some kind of compensation for pre-PPA projects. How successful these attempts will be is very individual.

“On the basis of the PPA, it will be difficult to claim compensation for the reduction of FIT and the failure to extend its payment terms. Only current debt can be claimed here. Compensation of imbalances for wages for underdevelopment is problematic,” he said.