In two recent decisions of 19 November 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled on the financial obligation of renewable energy producers (producers) to contribute to a share of the costs to connect to the renewable energy grid within a designated geographical zone.

 

The decisions come after the Committee in charge of dispute resolution of the French Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) considered that producers were not liable to financially contribute to the mutualized costs of developing the energy grid in order to connect all the renewable energy installations in a given region.

Réseau de Transport d’Electricité  (RTE), represented by Vogel & Vogel, brought the cases to the Paris Court of Appeal for clarification.

The Paris Court of Appeal clarified the conditions under which producers are financially liable, one of them being that the installation works should fall under the Regional

Renewable Energies Connection Master Plan (S3REnR) (i.e. all renewable energy installations except legal exceptions) which upholds the pooling of costs.

 The team representing RTE consisted of Joseph Vogel (Partner) and Pétronille Noel (Associate).

 Renewable energy companies, Société Pays de Montmedy Solaire 7 S.A.R.L and La Société Eoliennes des Tulipes S.A.S were represented by Volta law firm.

The Energy Regulatory Commission was represented by law firms Racine and Parme.