Solar developer Our Generation has failed in a bid to recoup some £8 million from Aberdeen City Council.
The case, heard before Edinburgh’s Court of Session on 21 December, focused on a range of solar installations owned and operated by Our Generation on behalf of the council.
Our Generation sought payments exceeding £8 million from Aberdeen City Council (ACC) as well as the cost of removing solar installations from a raft of properties after a contract dispute dating back to 2017.
ACC however disputed the way in which the contracts had been terminated, claiming that it was not given the proper notice as established in the contracts.
The dispute stems back from an original email sent from Our Generation to the council in July 2017, requesting payments surrounding solar installations carried out on properties owned by the council five years earlier.
The installs were covered by one master agreement and 72 separate site agreements entered into by both Our Generation and ACC and a third party, defunct solar installation firm Mark Group, which carried out the work.
Having emailed an invoice for the payments in July 2017, when ACC failed to pay within the timeframe stipulated in the contract Our Generation issued a termination notice the following month, arguing that the council had breached a clause within the contract.
However Mr Mure QC, acting on behalf of the council, argued that the email did not constitute a formal request for payment as it only contained a list of outstanding sums. As there was no formal request to pay included in the email, there was no formal basis for the termination notice and it would, therefore, be rendered invalid.
Presiding over the case, Lady Wolffe ruled in favour of the council having determined that such a severe act as terminating a contract prematurely would require strict compliance with the clauses within it, something which Our Generation had failed to do by issuing the email.
Lady Wolffe therefore dismissed Our Generation’s case.