Securum Equity Partners to file 160 mln euro damages claim against Serbia over solar project

Luxembourg-based Securum Equity Partners said it will present a 160 million euro ($214 million) damages claim against Serbia to the International Court of Arbitration of London, citing violations of a signed agreement on a 1,000 megawatt solar project

A termination letter has been sent to the Serbian government in the aftermath of its refusal to provide Securum Equity Partners the appropriate land for the construction of the solar park, the fund said in a statement posted on its website.

Securum Equity Partners was planning to complete the OneGiga Project, valued at approximately 1.75 billion euro, by the end of December 2015.

The Framework Agreement on regulating the mutual rights and obligations between Serbia and Securum Equity Partners for investing into renewable sources of energy was signed in November 2011. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Serbia and Securum Equity Partners International Ltd in May 2012.

Before the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, in April 2012, Securum Equity Partners International Ltd, an EU holding company based in Malta, incorporated a new company in Belgrade, named Onegiga Solar Park Incubator, dedicated specifically to develop the OneGiga Project.

The legally binding Umbrella Agreement between Serbia as one party and Onegiga Solar Park Incubator and Securum Equity Partners International Ltd as the other party was signed on October 26, 2012.

As part of the Umbrella Agreement, Serbia committed to provide to the investor land plots in one of the regions with the highest level of efficiency of insolation and the highest potential for the use of solar energy, based on the analysis provided by the investor. The total surface of the land had to be at least 3,000 hectares located in the proximity, and under no circumstances further than 1.0 kilometer from a network for the transmission of electric power.

($=0.7486 euro)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!