Iberdrola pinpoints wind in €75 billion investment to double renewables capacity

Investments in renewables will propel Iberola to 60GW of installed capacity in 2025, with 44GW achieved by 2022, the Spanish giant has announced.

Wind power, currently accounting for around 18GW from a total renewables portfolio of over 32GW, which includes nearly 13GW of hydro-electric power, will hit 30GW by 2025, the company claims.

That will be split as 26GW of onshore wind and 4GW of offshore wind, with 16GW devoted to solar PV and 14GW to hydro.

The investment will mean buying services and goods from more than 22,000 suppliers, which it says will help sustain up to 500,000 jobs globally by 2025, while the company itself expects 20,000 new recruits.

Some 50% of the investment goes to the US and UK amounting to €34 billion, while €11 billion goes to other international countries with “climate ambitions and A rating”.

The firm has committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 and reducing its global CO2 emissions by 86% to 50g/kWh by the end of the decade.

Investments in networks will top €27 billion by 2025 and the regulated asset base will reach €47 billion in 2025, meaning an 1.5-fold increase from 2019.

Iberdrola is also considering green hydrogen in its plants with the installation of 600MW by 2025 (800MW by 2027 together with Fertiberi) groups.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, net profit in 2022 will be between €4-4.2 billion, compared to the €3.7-3.9 billion that had been predicted.

The firm says gross investment will rise by 35% to €50 billion, compared to the €38-billion forecast, and efficiencies will rise to around €1.6 billion.

Iberdrola’s says that investments and efficiency will boost its results in terms of EBITDA to €15 billion and net profit to some €5 billion by 2025.

It expects an average annual growth rate between 6% and 7%.