News
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22/09/2022Galán reaffirms Iberdrola's investment commitment to the global energy transition Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Galán reaffirmed today in New York the Spanish company's commitment to investing in the green transition , both globally and in the United States, and called on policy makers and private sector companies to work together to overcome the barriers that continue to hinder the deployment of clean energy and the necessary investment in renewables, grids and storage. Galán was speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Climate Leaders Group and chaired by European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans as part of Climate Week in New York. The event entitled How the EU and US public and private sectors can work together to achieve global leadership on climate ambition and energy security brought together a broad representation of US private companies, public agencies and financial institutions. During his speech at the Empire State Building, the Chairman of Iberdrola referred to the global problems related to the world's dependence on fossil fuels and the additional challenges caused by the current energy crisis. Galán agreed with António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, that "the current global scenario shows that the energy transition cannot wait. It is not only a climate issue, it is also urgent to achieve energy self-sufficiency and address the problems created by the high prices of fossil fuels, which still account for 80% of global energy consumption". "At Iberdrola we have no doubts: we have invested more than 140 billion euros in the energy transition and we will accelerate our investment plan in renewable energies, grids and storage, generating a positive impact for the economy and society, but also for nature", he said. Therefore, "at Iberdrola we have approved a new biodiversity plan, with a commitment to be net positive for nature by 2030, rather than offsetting any impact on biodiversity produced by the company and acting on our supply chain," he said. The Chairman of Iberdrola recalled that, in the European Union, dependence on fossil fuels has had a negative impact on the competitiveness of companies and has led to repeated crises in the last two decades. In addition, Galán wanted to appeal to the need for stable legal frameworks to attract the necessary investments. "If the frameworks are incentivising, I am sure that there will be access to financial resources," he stated. For Iberdrola, an accelerated path of electrification of the economy through the deployment of renewable sources, grids and energy storage will be essential to address today's challenges. Accelerating the energy transition will not only successfully address the climate crisis, but will also play a key role in improving energy security and competitiveness and in creating sustainable jobs across the value chain. Reducing dependence on fossil fuels has clear benefits in terms of jobs, air quality and overall sustainable development. Responding to humanity's most pressing challenges requires us to find solutions together to build a more sustainable and resilient world for all. READ MORE
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20/09/2022Iberdrola joins the European Week of Sport Iberdrola signed up to the European Week of Sport 2022 this Tuesday at the company's headquarters in Madrid. This is an initiative of the European Commission that will be held from 23 to 30 September and will promote actions to promote physical activity and combat sedentary lifestyles. Iberdrola, together with the Spanish National Sports Council (CSD) and the other participating entities, is committed to promoting sport and a healthy lifestyle. It will do so through physical activities, awareness-raising actions and dissemination campaigns within the framework and values of the European Week of Sport and the #BeActive hashtag. The event was also attended by the sportswoman Marta Arce, Paralympic judoka and Iberdrola ambassador, as well as the captain of the recently proclaimed European champion water polo team, Laura Ester. Both thanked Iberdrola for its role as the main promoter of sport practiced by women and stressed the importance of "making society aware of the health benefits of sport". Iberdrola's Global Marketing and Digitalisation Director, David Gracia, said that "sport has positioned itself as a key lever for the company and for the promotion of equality between men and women". He also wanted to underline the importance of public-private collaboration in initiatives such as the European Week of Sport for the benefit of society. For his part, the president of the Spanish National Sports Council (CSD), José Manuel Franco, wanted to "celebrate, not only the fact that Iberdrola is providing a large part of the energy that makes women like Laura Ester and Marta Arce, who are with us today, advance, but also to express my satisfaction that together - athletes, administrations, companies and the Olympic and Paralympic Committees - we are joining forces in a common battle: the fight against sedentary lifestyles". Miguel Carballeda, president of the EPC, highlighted the search for equal opportunities for all people in access to sport from the CSD, the European Union, the Paralympic movement and its sponsors . "All together, with initiatives like this, we are stronger in the search for a fairer society for people with disabilities, for all people," he said. The event was also attended by Manuel Parga, Marketing Director of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE). In addition to schools, city councils and autonomous communities, Iberdrola joins organisations such as the Spanish Olympic Committee, the Spanish Paralympic Committee (CPE) and the ONCE Social Group, which have already signed up to this initiative. Iberdrola, a pioneer in promoting sport for women The promotion of sport practiced by women has become a key lever for Iberdrola and the promotion of real equality between men and women, one of its essential values. In 2016, Iberdrola became the first company to make a firm and global commitment to equality and the empowerment of women through sport. The company currently supports 32 federations: gymnastics, triathlon, rugby, canoeing, badminton, football, handball, volleyball, hockey, table tennis, athletics, karate, boxing, surfing, ice sports, fencing, underwater activities, bowling, winter sports, weightlifting, judo, Olympic wrestling, mountaineering and climbing, swimming, skating, pelota, rowing, squash, taekwondo, tennis, archery and sailing. It also gives its name to 32 leagues, all of them top-level, and to 100 other competitions with a naming right. Reducing the gender gap in sport is a commitment to women's equality through excellence and translates into an important reference for girls, from their practice of physical activity and sport at all levels of the education system, to show them that the path to federated and high-performance sport is also possible for them. READ MORE
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20/09/2022Iberdrola increases its public charging network for electric vehicles by 65 percent to over 2,500 points in Spain Iberdrola is consolidating its position as the main promoter of fast charging for electric vehicles in Spain. Currently, one out of every three recharging points installed by the company has a power of at least 43 kW, with an increasing commitment to higher capacities. As part of its commitment to accelerating sustainable mobility, the company has increased its public charging network by 65% in the last year to more than 2,500 points, with an expansion rate of more than a hundred new chargers per month. Thus, the company's charging stations have now reached more than 500 different locations in Spain. So far this year, Iberdrola's recharging network has supplied 9.5 GWh of energy, which with the use of combustion vehicles would have required the consumption of 3,550,000 litres of fuel. This significant development of the public charging infrastructure is the result of the company's electric mobility expansion plan, which will allow it to establish ultra-fast charging stations in strategic areas throughout the country in the coming years, as well as to continue with the deployment of lower power facilities. The Iberdrola group plans to install around 150,000 high-efficiency recharging points by 2025, both on urban roads, in cities and on major motorways, and in homes and businesses. Integrated sustainable mobility plan With an investment of 150 million euros, Iberdrola's comprehensive sustainable mobility plan also includes actions for the electrification of public transport. In this regard, the company plans to install more than 280 chargers for city buses in Spain in the coming months. The electricity company also provides its experience to advise local councils in defining the necessary actions for the implementation of electric buses as the best alternative for advancing in decarbonisation and improving air quality in cities, as well as being the most economical option. This initiative is part of Iberdrola's commitment to involve the main agents involved in promoting electromobility in Spain with coordinated and effective action. In this regard, the company has already completed more than 60 infrastructure deployment agreements with administrations, institutions, companies, service stations, dealers and electric vehicle manufacturers. Iberdrola also has a Public Charging App, the only application in Spain that includes verified information on all electric vehicle chargers, both those of Iberdrola and those of other operators, from which you can geolocate the charger, check its operation in real time and reserve and pay from your mobile phone. This App already has more than 96,000 points in Spain and the rest of Europe. 100% electric fleet by 2030 Iberdrola is committed to the electrification of transport as part of its strategy of transition towards a decarbonised economy, as a key lever for reducing emissions. The company was the first company in Spain to sign up to The Climate Group's EV100 initiative, with the aim of accelerating the transition to electric mobility, committing to electrify its entire fleet of vehicles by the end of the decade. The group has recently extended this objective, initially acquired for its activities in Spain and the United Kingdom, to its subsidiaries in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. The company now owns more than 630 electric vehicles for its operations, including passenger cars, maintenance vehicles and light vans. In addition, the company has launched the country's first electric truck in Brazil. This vehicle, with its own patented technology developed by the company, will be used in electricity distribution activities. READ MORE
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19/09/2022Iberdrola obtains environmental impact statement for new 375 MW photovoltaic plant in Spain Iberdrola has obtained the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the construction of a new 375 MW photovoltaic project in the town of Cedillo in Cáceres. This new plant will have sufficient capacity to supply 178,000 homes with clean energy, more than the population of a city like Badajoz, and will prevent the emission of 77,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The installation will have more than 576,000 bifacial photovoltaic modules that allow for higher production, as it has two light-sensitive surfaces. In this way, it will be able to produce more than 582,400 MWh of indigenous green energy per year - an amount that would have required more than 97 million cubic metres of gas to be generated by a combined cycle. Its construction will also boost the supply chain related to the energy transition with the participation of local suppliers such as Faramax, from Malpartida de Plasencia, which will provide the transformers. The towers of the evacuation power line will be provided by IMEDEXSA, of Casar de Cáceres. The works will also contribute to job creation, with the generation of up to 800 jobs during peak periods. In addition, the environmental studies have been carried out by Ecoenergías del Guadiana, also from Extremadura. The energy produced by the plant will be evacuated through an encapsulated substation that also serves two other photovoltaic installations with a combined capacity of 100 MW and a hydroelectric plant of almost 500 MW located in the same municipality. This substation has been a major technological and logistic challenge to ensure minimum environmental impact in the surroundings of the Tagus International Natural Park, a protected area between Spain and Portugal. Manufactured in Italy and transported in containers weighing more than 50 tonnes, this infrastructure occupies only 300 m2, compared to the 10,000 m2 of land usually required for equipment of these characteristics. This project - backed by the Town Council and the Cedillo Agrarian Society - will be located on a communal farm owned by a large number of local residents, who will be able to continue their livestock farming activities in the same area. The town of Cedillo is an example of the contribution of renewable energies to the sustainable development of rural areas. Iberdrola plans to set up the first solar community in Spain for an entire village in this municipality. Thanks to this initiative, all the inhabitants of this town will enjoy savings of 50% on their electricity bills. To this end, the company will install small photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 340 kW on the roofs of municipal facilities and on land provided by the City Council. Iberdrola will assume the total investment for the assembly and management of this collective self-consumption system, which will be put into operation at the beginning of 2023. Main promoter of photovoltaic solar energy in Spain The new photovoltaic plant at Cedillo joins the 12 other photovoltaic projects currently being executed by the company, the main developer of this technology in Spain. The initiatives under construction total 630 MW, half of which are located in Extremadura, where Iberdrola is building the Almaraz I and II plants (80 MW), which will be connected to the grid this year, and the Tagus complex in Alcántara, comprising four plants with a total capacity of 200 MW. The company is also executing eight other facilities in Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia using this technology, totalling 271 MW. These are the Villarino (50 MW) plant in Salamanca; Valbuena (50 MW) and Manantiales (30 MW) in Guadalajara; the Guillena project (144 MW) in Seville; Cespedera (27 MW) in Cadiz; and Virgen de Aremos III (50 MW) in Palencia. In addition, Iberdrola plans to start construction this year on another six projects that will provide 793 new MW of solar power in four autonomous communities: Ciudad Rodrigo (318 MW) in Salamanca; Fuentes (50 MW), Peñarrubia (50 MW) in Murcia; and the aforementioned Cedillo, in Cáceres. Among the projects commissioned so far this year is the Francisco Pizarro project which, with 590 MW of power, is the largest photovoltaic plant in Europe and the Iberdrola group's largest plant of this type in the world. Made up of 1.5 million photovoltaic modules, it will generate enough clean energy to supply more than 334,000 homes and prevent the emission of 140,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere per year. 10,000 new MW in Spain by 2030 Extremadura is one of Europe's richest regions in terms of natural resources and a key location for the development of solar energy. The region has become the spearhead of Iberdrola's commitment to boosting renewables in Spain. The company's investment plan foresees the installation of 10,000 new MW in the country by 2030, a development in which the Extremadura region is playing a key role. In the 2020-2025 period alone, Iberdrola will have installed more than 2,800 MW of renewable energy in Extremadura, with an investment of more than 1,700 million euros and the creation of some 7,400 jobs over the five-year period. The Iberdrola group began its commitment to renewable energies more than two decades ago as a fundamental pillar on which to build its clean, reliable and intelligent business model. Thanks to this vision, the company is today a world leader in renewable energies, with 38,000 MW of renewable capacity installed worldwide - 19,370 MW in Spain - at the end of the first half of 2022, and is a leader in the energy transition towards a low-emission economy. READ MORE
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15/09/2022Ignacio Galán congratulates Bilbao on being chosen as the UN headquarters of the Local Coalition 2030 Secretariat The Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, today welcomed the fact that Bilbao will become the UN headquarters of its Local Coalition 2030 Secretariat. The Biscayan capital will host the global and permanent headquarters of this international organisation. Ignacio Galán considers that "the decision of the United Nations to locate the headquarters of its Local Coalition 2030 Secretariat here ratifies the leadership and commitment of this land to an integral sustainable transformation that brings growth, employment, progress and well-being to the environment. Bilbao is a clear example of transformation and reconversion". The objective of this UN office is to promote the development of the 2030 Agenda in regional and municipal institutions, taking into account that 70% of the actions developed in relation to climate change and its mitigation depend on local institutions. Thus, "for a company from Bilbao such as Iberdrola, which contributes decisively to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is a real source of pride and is news that we can all congratulate ourselves on", stressed the chairman of Iberdrola, who also congratulated the mayor of the Biscayan capital, "I would especially like to congratulate Juan Mari Aburto". READ MORE
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14/09/2022Iberdrola sells 49% of Wikinger to EIP for 700 million to boost offshore wind portfolio Iberdrola has signed an agreement with Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) for the sale of a 49% stake in Wikinger offshore wind farm in Germany. The transaction is valued at around €700 million, and Iberdrola will maintain a majority stake of 51%. According to the agreement, Wikinger’s total valuation amounts to approximately €1.425 billion. Iberdrola will continue to control and manage this asset, leading the operations and maintenance services. Energy Infrastructure Partners (EIP) is a leading Swiss infrastructure investment company focused on the global energy transition, with a successful track record as a long-term shareholder in the industry and experience in infrastructure and renewable technology. Iberdrola, chaired by Ignacio Galan, is a world leader in offshore wind power. Wikinger is one of the company’s flagship operational projects and was the first offshore wind farm developed by the group on its own. With an installed capacity of 350 megawatts (MW) it has been supplying clean energy to approximately 350,000 German households since it was commissioned in 2018. The transaction further advances Iberdrola`s asset rotation plan to finance new renewable projects under development. Iberdrola, a firm commitment to offshore wind Iberdrola reaffirms its commitment to offshore wind , with almost 1,300 MW of offshore capacity in operation by the end of June 2022. In addition, it has 3,000 MW under construction, another 4,000 MW secured and an extensive project pipeline under development. Elsewhere, the group has two offshore wind farms in operation: West of Duddon Sands, and East Anglia One commissioned in 2017 and 2020 respectively and located in the UK. In the United States, Iberdrola group has begun construction of the country's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm: Vineyard Wind. Located off the coast of Massachusetts, its 800 MW capacity will meet the energy needs of 1 million homes. In total, Iberdrola has approximately 5,000 MW of offshore wind projects under development in the United States, including Park City Wind with 804 MW and Commonwealth Wind with 1,232 MW. In Germany, the group has started construction of 476-MW Baltic Eagle project in the Baltic Sea. Next year, construction will begin on Windanker, which will have a capacity of with 308 MW. These new wind farms will be joined by Saint-Brieuc, in French waters, which is expected to come into operation in 2023. It will have a capacity of 496 MW and will be located off the coast of Brittany, 20 kilometres offshore. Iberdrola's global offshore wind pipeline includes a wide range of projects at different stages of development in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland and Sweden, along with an expanding portfolio in countries such as Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and South Korea. READ MORE
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13/09/2022Iberdrola, the best European company in terms of ESG information dissemination Iberdrola is the best European company in ESG (environmental, social and governance) dissemination of information, according to the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP) world ranking. LACP has evaluated nearly 1,000 annual reports (including in digital format) from different companies in more than twenty countries around the world, and has awarded Iberdrola the first place in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Platinum award, with a score of 99 out of 100, for its new digital space "ESG Information " in the category of "Print-Based Alternative Reports". This ranking has positively assessed the accessibility and transparency of ESG information to all stakeholders through its new digital space. This new microsite brings together in a single area all the company's non-financial information for the 2021 financial year (complementing the information reported in the Integrated Report with the exhaustive content available in the Statement of Non-Financial Information - Sustainability Report, as well as other ESG information relevant to stakeholders). In addition, this body has taken into account the effort to digitalise ESG information, in an expanded form and with infographic material, which responds to numerous recognised reporting standards in this area (IIRC, GRI, SASB, Global Compact, etc.). This year, LACP also awarded Iberdrola the prize for the company that has most improved its ESG reporting with respect to the previous year. The new ESG area, a step further in Iberdrola's commitment In its commitment to transparency and communication dissemination, this year Iberdrola has launched a new digital "ESG Information" space, which includes all relevant information on its ESG performance and the main associated financial metrics. With this microsite, the company takes another step forward in its leadership in ESG, bringing information in this area closer to stakeholders through a modern, digital and accessible format. This space complements the other documents published in traditional format: Statement of non-financial information - Sustainability Report , published since 2004 and Integrated Report , since 2014. READ MORE
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12/09/2022Iberdrola and Red Cross unite against the suspension of electricity and gas supply to the vulnerable Iberdrola and the Red Cross have expressed their commitment to the most vulnerable people in the first agreement they have signed at national level. The aim is to establish coordination mechanisms to prevent the suspension of electricity or gas supply to applicants for reasons of non-payment or, in the event of suspension, to ensure its immediate restoration. All those individuals who have contracted the electricity or gas supply of their usual home with Iberdrola and who, after an assessment by the Red Cross of their financial vulnerability, are granted aid for the payment of their energy bills, can benefit from the agreed measures. The company undertakes to maintain the supply for five months from confirmation of the granting of the aid. If payment of the full amount of the invoices has not been made by the end of this period, the suspension of supply will be reactivated. Iberdrola also undertakes to advise beneficiaries on the different possibilities for optimising their electricity and gas contracts. For example, such as adapting the contracted power to the actual use of the same, with proposals for actions that promote energy efficiency and with information on the social bonus and, where appropriate, advice on how to process the corresponding application. The Basque electricity company has also offered to provide the Red Cross with advice, information and training on different aspects related to saving electricity and gas consumption. In the event that a supply that has been granted aid is going to be required for non-payment of other different bills, Iberdrola must inform the Red Cross so that it can carry out a new assessment. Basically, it is a matter of re-analysing the user's situation and determining whether he or she is eligible for a new subsidy. In cases where the aid is refused, Iberdrola undertakes to provide the supply holder with tailor-made payment plans that will allow payment in instalments of up to a total of 12 monthly instalments at no financial cost. The Red Cross will inform the applicant about the processing of his/her personal data and the content of the agreement. In addition, it will seek their consent to communicate their personal data to Iberdrola for the sole purpose of enabling them to be beneficiaries of this agreement and to allow its execution. The agreement shall be valid for one year and shall be tacitly extended for annual periods if neither of the parties denounces it in writing. . READ MORE
