Solar Investors Seek US Enforcement of ICSID Award vs Romania — NRG-IA

On July 7, 2026, ten investors involved in five solar projects in Romania initiated proceedings in the District of Columbia seeking the recognition and enforcement in the United States of an arbitral award obtained against the Romanian state. The case moves an eight-year-old dispute into US courts, reaching an unusual impasse: Romania has set aside over RON 256 million for damages since May 2024, yet the creditors claim the award remains unpaid. The sum of RON 256,020,536.28 was deposited by the Ministry of Finance on May 31, 2024, into a special-purpose account opened at the Treasury in the creditors' name. However, the Romanian mechanism does not entail the immediate transfer of funds to the beneficiaries when the payment could constitute state aid. The funds are frozen until their compatibility with European Union law is clarified. Meanwhile, the investors' legal position within the ICSID system has strengthened. Romania's application to annul the award was fully rejected on February 18, 2026, and a few months later, the ten claimants turned to Washington to secure recognition of the ruling in the US jurisdiction. The result is a conflict in which the exact same financial obligation looks entirely different in Bucharest, Brussels, and Washington. The €42.2 million award survived annulment proceedings The case is known as LSG Building Solutions GmbH and Others v. Romania, ICSID Case No. ARB/18/19 . The claimants are companies involved in investments in five solar projects in Romania, and the dispute concerns successive changes made to the green certificate support scheme. Investors argued that the changes introduced after the projects were completed reduced the revenues on which the investment economics had been built. In 2022, the arbitral tribunal found that Romania had breached its fair and equitable treatment obligation under the Energy Charter Treaty regarding certain modifications to the scheme. On February 20, 2024, the ICSID tribunal awarded damages of €42.2 million , a sum that included pre-award interest, plus post-award interest and costs. The ruling includes, among other things, $503,610.17 in arbitration costs and other legal expenses of $3.241 million and €525,000 . In May 2024, the creditors calculated the total accumulated obligation at that time to be €52,071,561 , according to the payment request later reproduced in the US lawsuit documents. However, this figure does not represent the principal of the award, nor is it a fixed sum definitively expressed in RON, but rather the creditors' calculation at that date, including interest and costs. Romania sought the annulment of the award in June 2024. This procedure temporarily stayed enforcement under the ICSID framework, but on February 18, 2026 , the ad-hoc committee rejected Romania's application in its entirety. The state was also ordered to pay the costs of the annulment proceedings, including reimbursing the claimants $855,274.69 for legal expenses. From that moment, the internal ICSID avenue through which Romania sought to set aside the award was closed. Romania deposited the funds in the Treasury, but the creditors cannot collect them The financial paradox of the dispute stems from the fact that Romania did not simply ignore its obligation. On May 31, 2024, the Ministry of Finance deposited RON 256,020,536.28 into an interest-bearing, special-purpose account opened at the Treasury in the creditors' name. This mechanism derives from Emergency Ordinance (OUG) No. 77/2014 on national procedures in the field of state aid, supplemented in 2015 and subsequently amended, including in 2023. The current form of the legislation provides that when a measure established by a judicial or arbitral title is likely to constitute state aid and is notified to the European Commission, enforcement is suspended, and the sum can be deposited into a special account pending Brussels' decision. Consequently, the RON 256 million does not represent the sum being pursued as such in the US lawsuit . It represents the amount deposited by Romania under its internal payment mechanism. In the United States, the investors are pursuing the obligations established by the award: the €42.2 million, the interest provided for in the ruling, and the associated costs. The distinction is critical. From the Romanian accounting and administrative perspective, the funds have been set aside. From the creditors' perspective, payment has not been made as long as the money is not actually available to them. Brussels is investigating the exact payment that the investors are demanding The situation became further complicated in the summer of 2026. At the end of July, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into the award granted to the investors. Brussels is analyzing whether enforcing the damages would confer an incompatible advantage on the beneficiaries under EU state aid rules. The Commission confirmed both the value of €42.2 million plus interest and costs , and…