Foreign direct investment and renewable energy sources : legal analysis of current developments

Abstract

The master’s thesis is focused on two closely interlinked fields of law, the international investment law and the renewable energy law. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a detailed legal analysis of the current legislation pertaining to foreign investments into renewable energy sources. The analysis is first focused on brief introduction into legal landscapes of investment law and energy law, analysing the Energy Charter Treaty and its principal provisions as a crucial source of international investment law. The focus is shifted on the international investment arbitration, providing a brief theoretical summary and swiftly progressing toward the case study of Spain as an exquisitely suited country for conduction of analysis of main trends in current arbitration practice. The Charanne and Eiser arbitrations serve to illustrate the state of play not only in Spain, but all around the European Union. Afterwards the inclusion of additional two arbitration proceedings, namely Windstream and Mesa Power, initiated under the North American Free Trade Agreement, serves the role of providing a comparative insight into a different set of regulations. In the concluding part of the thesis the author concerns himself with the conflict between investment protection and the right to regulate, which occurred often in the course of this thesis. Last portion of the thesis is dedicated to author’s opinions concerning good legislation and policy advice, which could put an end to the rising numbers of arbitrations in this area of law.