EU Regulator Opens In-depth Probe into Arbitration Award Ordering Spain to Compensate JGC Holdings

06:37 AM EDT, 08/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The European Commission launched an in-depth investigation to determine if an arbitration award ordering Spain to pay compensation to Japan's JGC Holdings for changes to a renewable energy support scheme complies with the European Union's State aid rules. The commission's preliminary view is that the award and its enforcement constitute state aid since they provided JGC a benefit equivalent to what it would have received under Spain's 2007 renewable support scheme, which was not notified to the commission for approval. It will probe whether its initial concerns are confirmed. The dispute started in 2013 when Spain overhauled the terms of its 2007 scheme and applied the new terms retroactively to installations, including JGC, which the Japanese engineering holding company challenged through arbitration. In 2021, an arbitration tribunal ruled that Spain violated the Energy Charter Treaty by changing the subsidy rules and ordered it to pay JGC 23.5 million euros, plus interest and additional costs. Spain also informed the commission that it paid the award to Blasket Renewables Investment, a US fund that acquired JGC's rights to the compensation and has pursued enforcement of the award in the Netherlands, the US, and Belgium.