Daniel Constantin Diaconu 
Force Majeure in the Hydropower Industry 
Concepts and Case Studies

Presented with the Award of the Senate of the University of Bucharest for the most prestigious book in the field of Life and Earth Sciences, 2022-2023.






This book aims to highlight the particular situation faced by certain hydropower companies by the fact that they cannot fulfil their contracts due to force majeure.  The first part of this book will be an analysis of how water is used in electricity production. It is  important to point out that all types of energy sources use water, to a different extent,   of course, and that its spatial and temporal availability is very important. The focus  will be on hydropower, presenting the current situation at the global level, and the effect of reducing the amounts of water in the river system.



The second part is based on the presentation of the concept of force majeure and the  ways of presenting and drafting it in a contract. Many disputes or the success of a  contract depended heavily on the provisions of this article of the contract. Obviously,   there are also situations in which the signatory parties abuse or are not protected  by these provisions of force majeure. Starting from a few brief examples from the  international level, we reach a wide discussion of the situation created in Romania,   when the largest supplier of electricity produced on the basis of water terminates  several contracts invoking force majeure. The manner in which the opinion of the  parties involved is presented to the court is analyzed and presented in detail.

Mục lục

Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 Water for energy versus energy for water.- Chapter 3. Energy sectors that use water.- Chapter 4. The context of the development of the World hydropower sector.- Chapter 5. The impact of drought on the hydropower domain.- Chapter 6. Force majeure.- Chapter 7. Sample contractual provisions, which must be contained in a force majeure contract.- Chapter 8. Concrete cases of invocation of force majeure.- Chapter 9. Romania, in a European energy context.- Chapter 10. Settlement of the dispute, in case the force majeure clause is invoked by Hidroelectrica SA.- Chapter 11. Electricity, systemic crises and environmental policies.

Giới thiệu về tác giả

Daniel Constantin Diaconu is an Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest.  He holds a Master degree in water resources and obtained a Ph D in Geography.