2023-08-18 13:51:08
Italy has attracted many project developers, financiers and banks to invest in solar parks. Image: REUTERS
Solar entrepreneur Jörg Menyesch relied on promised feed-in tariffs in Italy. But Rome did not comply. The investor has been fighting for his rights before an arbitration court since 2016 – there is no end in sight.
Mr. Menyesch, you are the founder and managing director of Enernovum, a medium-sized operator of photovoltaic systems from Cologne. For almost seven years you have been at odds with the Italian government before a special arbitration tribunal of the World Bank Group (ICSID). How did that happen?
Starting in 2010, our company used investor money to buy photovoltaic systems that were already connected to the grid. Our portfolio quickly grew to 10 megawatts in Italy. Back then, the systems cost many times what they would cost today. The investment volume was around 35 million euros. All of this happened on the basis of the feed-in tariff that was promised in the long term by the Italian government as part of the so-called Conto Energia. That was the basis for all the investments we made there.
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