Interview with Iberdrola Group CTO Agustín Delgado Martín

How does the European energy sector turn shared ambition into collaborative action?

Shared ambition becomes collaborative action when Europe adopts a holistic approach and ensures alignment across all strategies – not only energy, but also digitalisation, innovation and industry. Europe’s energy transition will only succeed if ambition is matched by concrete steps. To make this happen, we need: vertical and horizontal collaboration among key actors across the entire energy value chain, including the public sector, technology providers and industry; a common vision that integrates energy with digital and industrial plans and priorities, so that Europe can lead in competitiveness, sustainability and technological leadership; funding channelled into large-scale innovative projects and regulatory sandboxes; identification of strategic projects in investment programs for infrastructure and resilience, including smart grids and energy storage systems; simplification and acceleration of industrial policy instruments such as IPCEI, to fast-track critical projects and foster cross-border collaboration.

Innovation and R&D are the backbone of this transformation: Europe must foster technological leadership through collaborative research and large-scale pilots. Iberdrola promotes open innovation in collaboration with universities, technology centres and stakeholders, leveraging deep knowledge of technologies to add high value to its businesses. In a global environment marked by technological acceleration and the energy transition, technological innovation and digital transformation allow the company to anticipate sector challenges, optimize processes and deliver high-value solutions to customers, employees and partners. This is how we transform words into action and accelerate the real implementation of innovative solutions.

What does Europe need to do to deliver competitive, resilient energy by 2030?

Europe needs to accelerate the development of a smarter, stronger and more digital electricity grid, while ensuring that digital and physical infrastructure evolve in parallel to support AI-enabled energy systems. By 2030, competitiveness and resilience will depend on several priorities:

• Include electricity among Europe’s strategic industries. The sector is central to electrifying transport, industry and heating, while enabling AI applications with the greatest systemic impact, such as real-time grid management, predictive maintenance and demand optimization.
• Modernize and digitalize infrastructure in parallel. Europe needs smart grids, large-scale battery storage, decentralized systems like microgrids and energy-efficient solutions for data centres to integrate renewables and enable scalable, secure AI-driven operations.
• Prepare for new electricity-intensive uses. Demand is expected to grow significantly, driven by data centres, artificial intelligence, robotics and electrified industrial processes. Meeting this demand requires anticipatory planning and flexible, digital networks.
• Accelerate anticipatory grid investments and interconnections. Coordinated programs and streamlined processes are essential to reduce bottlenecks and prepare networks for future needs.

Without a robust, digital and interconnected grid, Europe cannot unlock the full potential of electrification, renewables and AI-enabled innovation, nor support the competitiveness of other strategic sectors.

It’s 2030: what does Europe’s energy mix look like?

Europe’s Energy target mix agreed in the European Green Deal is at least 42.5% renewable. In 2024 46.9% was already being produced renewably and the likely prediction for 2030 is 50-57% of the total European electricity generation mix. In addition, 10-15% will continue to be nuclear and less than 1% will be coal powered. This is, however, heavily influenced by the will of policy makers to enact measures that will drive electrification and renewable systems.

Is the energy sector making the most of the current AI tech? 

Artificial intelligence has been making a huge impact in the energy system for decades. Iberdrola has been using AI for many years in key process operations. Meteoflow is a system created based on machine-learning algorithms that predicts meteorological events – from snowfall, temperature or humidity to solar incidence, wind force and direction – to better estimate electricity generation from renewables and improve grid maintenance operations during storms. AI is also used to manage the grid to ensure that outages are immediately isolated and other customers around the fault aren’t affected. 

Iberdrola has created new energy products based on AI like its Advanced Smart Assistant (ASA) that uses machine learning to optimize the joint functioning of different smart solutions (EVs, PVs, AC). Generative AI tools are still at an early stage but show great promise to automate vast amounts of work. In the near future they will complement predictive and operational AI, enhancing efficiency and customer experience at scale.

How do you see the role of AI supporting/enabling your organization's customer experience strategy?

Iberdrola’s focus on its customers means that AI has been embraced as a technology that enables us to provide more and better information to our customers. We have diversified services and provide EV charging, home heating, residential PV and many other energy services connected through seamless user interfaces. AI recommendations are being used in websites as well as different chatbots for internal and external uses. As AI progresses and is tested it will inevitably become more pervasive in most of our interactions with customers.

What sustainability practice in your organization are you most proud of? And how have you reduced your personal carbon footprint?

At Iberdrola, we are most proud ofour long-term commitment to electrification as the foundation for sustainability. Over the past 25 years, we have invested nearly €175 billion in renewable energy, smart grids and storage solutionsto electrify the economy and meet growing demand.

This strategy has delivered tangible results: 100 million people supplied with clean, secure and competitive energy; In 2024, we avoided 23.13 million tonnes of CO₂ and reached 84% emissions-free installed capacity, clear proof that economic and environmental sustainability can go hand in hand. €17 billion in annual purchases from thousands of suppliers, sustaining 500,000 jobs; €10 billion in annual tax contributions, driving social progress.

We have also launched a €58 billion investment plan for the next four years to continue advancing electrification and strategic autonomy. Collaboration between companies and governments will be key to accelerate climate action and environmental care.

On a personal level, reducing my carbon footprint means making conscious choices every day, prioritizing low-carbon mobility, energy-efficient habits at home and responsible consumption. Sustainability is a collective effort and Iberdrola’s trajectory shows that large-scale investments combined with individual responsibility can deliver a greener, more competitive future.

What are the biggest challenges facing energy leaders today? 

Energy leaders today face a triple challenge: 

• Accelerating the energy transitionwhile maintaining security of supply and affordability. Integrating massive renewable capacity, electrifying transport and industry and reducing emissions requires unprecedented coordination.
• Modernizing infrastructure to make grids smarter, stronger and more digital. Networks must evolve in parallel with digital infrastructure to enable AI-driven management, flexibility and resilience.
• Managing uncertainty and systemic risks, from volatile markets and geopolitical tensions to cyber threats and climate impacts, while ensuring investment flows and regulatory stability.

The biggest challenge is not just technical; it’s strategic: building an energy system that is resilient, competitive and digitally enabled, so it can support Europe’s industrial leadership and unlock innovation and competitiveness.

How are your industry experts going to address these challenges at Enlit Europe in Bilbao?

At Enlit Europe in Bilbao,our experts will show how Iberdrola is addressing the challenges of the energy transition through innovation, investment and collaboration. We will focus on four strategic areas:

• Electrification as the foundation for competitiveness, safety and economic growth: Global electricity demand will double in the next 15 years, driven by transport, building heating, digitalization and AI. Electrification is key to addressing these challenges and each country must foster it with indigenous energies to ensure strategic autonomy and competitiveness.
• Accelerating investments in networks and digitalization: We will share how anticipatory investments in smart grids and storage are essential to integrate renewables and enable AI-driven management. Europe needs €1.2 trillion in networks, which requires attractive returns and a regulatory framework that encourages investment. It is also crucial to reduce administrative barriers and streamline permitting processes, as excessive bureaucracy often delays projects for years that could be completed in little more than one.
• Stable policies and rational taxation: Our experts will emphasize the need for predictable regulation and investment incentives to attract long-term capital. Rational taxation and the elimination of asymmetric regimes that favour fossil fuels are critical to accelerate the transition.
• Talent and skills for the future: We will address workforce transformation – reskilling at scale, fostering hybrid profiles that combine digital and sector expertise and strengthening collaboration with universities to ensure talent flows both ways.

Enlit will be the platform to demonstrate that the energy transition is not just a technological shift, but a strategic opportunity for Europe’s competitiveness, sustainability and job creation.