The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia (the CC) has suspended proceedings in the so-called wind farm case and referred it to the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU). The CC seeks clarification from the CJEU in a case brought by several wind farm developers, including Enefit Green SIA, challenging the procedure for allocating state-owned forest land to wind farm developers.
The key question referred to the CJEU is whether the Latvian state’s decision to grant special rights to the state-owned company AS Latvenergo constitutes unlawful state aid and whether it distorts competition in the internal market.
The case concerns regulation adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers, which permits Latvenergo to obtain building rights for wind farms covering up to 50,000 hectares of state-owned forest land at market price, but without a public tender or auction. Private wind farm developers, including Enefit Green, argue that this arrangement prevents them from offering a higher price for land use in fair competition and effectively guarantees Latvenergo a significant market share (approximately 20-30%) in electricity production without competition.
The developers contend that granting such advantages to a state-owned company may have a negative impact on the free market not only in the energy sector, but also in other sectors. Such an arrangement contradicts the principles of an open market economy and does not serve the long-term public interest in ensuring the lowest possible electricity prices.
The CC will resume the case after the CJEU delivers its ruling.
Enefit Green SIA is represented in this case by law firm Sorainen (team: attorneys-at-law Katrīne Pļaviņa-Mika, Andris Tauriņš, Lelde Laviņa and assistant lawyer Andīna Brīvule).
