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.
