News
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22/01/2025Ignacio Galán in Davos: ‘Electrification is the revolution of the 21st century’ The Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, stated in an interview with the prestigious Spanish business daily Expansión, on the occasion of his speech at the Davos 2025 World Economic Forum, that all growth industries ‘are going to need more and more electricity’, to which is added ‘the electrification of transport and domestic uses in heating and electrification’. And, he adds, to make this possible, grids are essential. This translates into an imminent need for investment in networks, ‘especially in the US and the UK’, to ensure Iberdrola's ‘present and future’ growth. ‘Our largest network assets are already in those two countries, followed by Brazil and Spain.’ You can read the full interview in: Ignacio Galán: ‘It is possible to grow and pay a higher dividend to shareholders every year’ | Energy (Spanish version) READ MORE
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21/01/2025 - 19:26 UTC +01:00Ignacio Galán argues the importance of electrification in Davos The Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán , is attending the Davos Forum, as he has been doing for the past seventeen years, where he will hold various high-level meetings and defend the leading role of electricity in the new energy landscape. For five days, the Swiss town will host the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum , which this year will be held under the slogan “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age”. An event with the aim of working together to rebuild trust and shape the principles, policies and partnerships needed to meet the challenges of 2025. READ MORE
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20/01/2025 - 13:21 UTC +01:00Edison Electric Institute highlights the performance of Avangrid crews in extreme storms in the United States Avangrid , Iberdrola's subsidiary in the United States, has been recognised internationally for its response to the emergencies due to the extreme storms that occurred on the East Coast in 2024. The Edison Electric Institute highlighted the rapid and immediate work of two of the company's distributors in the country, New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Central Maine Power (CMP), to restore electricity service after Tropical Storm Debby in August and heavy snowfall in Maine in April. During Tropical Storm Debby, which brought high wind gusts, flooding rains to much of the East Coast, and even tornadoes between 5 and 9 August, the company deployed more than 1,300 workers to restore service to the more than 100,000 customers left without power. Meanwhile, the heavy snow and frost that hit Maine on 4 April 2024 left more than 270,000 customers without power across the state. Snow loads on trees along with high winds were the main causes of damage. More than 1,100 crews were involved in the major restoration effort that included damage assessments, tree felling and repairs to electrical infrastructure. Emergency response Iberdrola's main priority in any storm, with its customers and with the communities in which it operates, is to restore the power as quickly as possible . In Spain, Iberdrola recently stood out for its work in the aftermath of the cold drop in the southeast of the country. With more than 180,000 people left without power, the company mobilised more than 500 workers in the affected areas of Valencia, 200 of them the first day. The company's rapid action and response with all the resources at its disposal, including the installation of more than 120 generators, made it possible to recover approximately 90% of the affected electricity supply in just 48 hours, and in just over 72 hours all residents had the lights back on. The company announced this week that it will invest €100 M to redesign the Valencian distribution grid with the il.lumina project , which will benefit more than 650,000 customers. More than 1,000 workers from contracting companies, coordinated by an internal team of 35 people, will be responsible for building an even more robust, automated, digitalised and resilient grid, prepared for possible extreme events that may occur in the future. You can read the full story in Avangrid's News Room. READ MORE
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17/01/2025 - 13:10 UTC +01:00Iberdrola obtains international 'Top Employers Enterprise' seal of approval for its excellence in people management, the only energy company in the world to do so The 'Top Employers' seal is a certification based on an exhaustive and rigorous analysis of people management practices and metrics and their impact on the organisation as a whole (strategy and results), as well as on talent engagement, attraction and development. Iberdrola was certified in Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Greece. It is unusual for a company to obtain this recognition in so many countries, thanks to which Iberdrola will have both European and international certification and be the only company in the industry to have this international 'enterprise' seal. The company was assessed in 225 of its practices, distributed across 20 categories and six dimensions that include people strategy, talent attraction, training, professional development and growth, leadership, well-being and diversity and inclusion. Only those practices that have been implemented with at least 80% of the workforce have been considered "consistent" (or "scoreable"), which demonstrates not only the seal’s requirements, but also the robustness of the people policies implemented in the different countries. Each local certification, importantly, is independent, i.e. Iberdrola has passed 10 different certifications, with each country having to justify and explain each of them within its own strategy and analysing local impacts and scope in each geography. Founded 30 years ago, the Top Employers Institute has certified more than 2,300 organisations in 121 countries, impacting more than 12 M employees around the world. None of Iberdrola's international competitors has so many certified countries. Only one other company in Europe besides the electricity company, and only on the continent, has a similar certification. Furthermore, Amadeus, Santander, Inditex, Meliá and Iberdrola are the only Ibex companies with certification in Europe. READ MORE
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16/01/2025 - 14:16 UTC +01:00Iberdrola España invests €100 M to redesign the power grid affected by the severe weather event in Valencia Iberdrola España presented in Valencia the il.lumina project, in which it is going to invest €100 M to redesign the distribution grid affected by the severe weather event on 29 October in the province. The CEO of Iberdrola España, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, accompanied by Eva Mancera, the CEO of i-DE, Iberdrola’s distribution company, detailed the company's investment plan and steps taken so far. In the words of Mario Ruiz-Tagle, "although the company, despite enormous difficulties, was able to get practically all electricity back online in under 72 hours, our priority now is to look to the future and to have an even more efficient distribution grid". For the Iberdrola executive, "the agile performance of the more than 500 workers mobilised from different parts of Spain and the investment in grid technology we’ve made in recent years were decisive in those exceptional circumstances". The company has now created a team of 35 people who are dedicated exclusively to the il.lumina project, which is divided into five operational areas under the same management and has seven support areas to coordinate the work of the approximately 1,000 contractors who will be needed, most of whom will be locally based. The creation of a department dedicated exclusively to this plan is allowing i-DE to continue developing the rest of its investments in the Valencia Region normally. Iberdrola began the different phases of the project at the end of 2024 with the recovery of the 132 kilovolt (kV) high voltage infrastructure in the Catadau and Carlet area and has already gathered all the material necessary to carry out the project, both in terms of transformation centres and the low and medium voltage grid, as well as substations. Its plan is to reach 90% of the project's execution in 2025 and to complete it in 2026. Resilience measures Eva Mancera also emphasised that electricity was brought back online in record time after the floods thanks to human and technical resources. She added that this new grid "will be even more robust and resilient, prepared for extreme phenomena that may occur in the future and will be implemented in a few months thanks to the creation of a specific project team that will allow i-DE to continue developing the rest of its investments in the Valencia region". To build the electricity distribution grid of the future, the company will incorporate resilience measures into infrastructures that involve design changes in assets and will equip them with the latest digitalisation standards that will benefit 650,000 customers, all in coordination with the actions carried out by the public administrations The level of installation automation will be increased and new smart transformers (i-trafo) will be incorporated, which will improve supply quality, overhead power lines will be buried, and transformer substations will be raised and compacted. To minimise disruption in the municipalities where work is already underway, i-DE has improved scheduled outage notifications and is implementing special measures like the installation of generators and night-time work. In addition, the agreement between the company and the Valencian Government, through the Regional Ministry of Innovation and Industry, continues to be in force, under which it is working with the Valencian Metallurgical Business Federation (FEMEVAL) to send brigades of electrical installers to the buildings and private homes affected by the severe weather event, which are responsible for checking and repairing electrical installations and checking electrical panels, as well as addressing any needs that may arise in towns to restore public lighting. Fast performance The cold drop on 29 October in the province of Valencia resulted in approximately 180,000 customers losing electricity in l'Horta Sud, Catadau-Carlet and Requena-Utiel-Buñol. From the outset, i-DE mobilised approximately 500 people from both Valencia and other regions in the rest of Spain to restore service and repair the affected installations as soon as they could access them. More than 200 people travelled on the first day (in-house and contractors) from outside the province of Valencia to provide support both in the field and to reinforce and relieve the staff operating the control centres, who had been cut off. The company's rapid action and mobilisation of all the resources at its disposal, including the installation of more than 120 generators, made it possible to recover approximately half of affected electricity supply in just 24 hours, 85% within 48 hours and in just over 72 hours practically everything had been restored. READ MORE
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15/01/2025 - 16:37 UTC +01:00Iberdrola Portugal collects the first honey harvest from its photovoltaic plants Iberdrola Portugal, Iberdrola's international business company in that country has harvested its first crop of solar honey, produced at the Conde (municipality of Palmela) and Algeruz II (municipality of Setúbal) photovoltaic plants. The initiative, which began in 2023, has borne its first fruits with 300 kilos of this 100 % natural food. As part of the Convive Plan , the project seeks to promote coexistence between clean energy installations and the natural environment. In this way, the company demonstrates that coexistence between renewable projects and the environment is possible and fruitful. The 30 hives distributed between the two apiaries of both plants have produced a total of 300 kilos of 100 % natural honey, but there will always be room for more. The intention is not only to extend the project to more facilities, but also to provide more care for the flowers around the hives to boost production. By being located in the solar plants themselves, the beekeepers work in better and safer conditions. READ MORE
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15/01/2025 - 14:08 UTC +01:00Iberdrola's tax contribution in the Basque Country up 15% to €800 M The Executive Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán , today held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Bizkaia, Elixabete Etxanobe, at Torre Iberdrola Bilbao, the company's headquarters. The meeting is part of the regular meetings between the company's Executive Chairman and the authorities of Basque institutions. During the meeting, Ignacio Galán conveyed the company's firm commitment to the Basque Country to the Deputy Minister of Bizkaia. The tax contribution of Iberdrola in 2024 was up 15% to around €800 M, 90% of which is in Bizkaia. Iberdrola is one of the driving forces of the Basque Country's economy, with an impact on its GDP of €3.5 B in investments, purchases, salaries and tax contributions. The company provides a total of 30,000 jobs in the Basque Country. The internationalisation of Iberdrola over the last 20 years has had a direct impact on Basque suppliers, including companies such as Haizea Wind, Ingeteam, Ormazabal, Arteche or Siemens-Gamesa, with annual purchases amounting to over €3.3 B. More than 90% of these purchases are from companies in Bizkaia. READ MORE
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09/01/2025 - 12:18 UTC +01:00Iberdrola, the world's leading private utility in terms of R&D&I investment for the third year running Iberdrola has been recognised for the third consecutive year as the world's leading private utility in terms of investment in innovation and development, according to the European Commission in its report 'The 2024 Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard ', after allocating €384 M to the area in 2023. The European Commission has analysed the 2,000 largest companies in the world and the 800 most important in Europe. The company chaired by Ignacio Galán considers innovation to be a strategic variable for the group and the main tool for guaranteeing the electricity company’s sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness. By incorporating new clean and efficient technological solutions, Iberdrola has become the driving force behind the energy model based on electrification. The company aims to exceed €4 B in investment in Innovation, Development and Research (R&D&I) by 2030. It will double its investment in the area by the end of the decade. These resources are intended to be used primarily for projects related to renewable energy, smart grids, digital transformation and developing tailor-made solutions for our customers. The aim is to accelerate electrification, addressing not only the climate crisis, but also improving energy security, competitiveness and sustainable job creation throughout the value chain. Innovation for electrification The company has spearheaded the development of solutions that drive decarbonisation such as smart grids, with initiatives such as the Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub . Located in Bilbao, the hub has become an international benchmark and will respond to the challenges of the energy transition. The centre acts as a driving force for innovation, combining the company's technological capacity with that of more than 100 collaborating entities and companies: suppliers, universities, technology centres and start-ups. It is also a magnet for attracting strategic suppliers and international talent, strengthening the business ecosystem. In the area of grids, it also continues to incorporate digitalisation and artificial intelligence systems in transmission and distribution infrastructures to further increase security and quality of supply. In renewables, Iberdrola is also committed to pumped hydro technology , the most efficient and mature system for large-scale energy storage. Iberdrola's leading position in energy storage has been strengthened with the commissioning of the Tâmega gigabattery, one of the largest projects in Europe in the last 25 years. The boost given in recent years to offshore wind energy is also of note, of which it already has assets in operation and under advanced construction in various countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. In addition, the company is paving the way to sites further from the coast by allowing the deployment of wind turbines in larger and deeper offshore areas with greater wind potential. New technologies are being explored in the recycling and recovery of wind turbine blade waste, and in agrovoltaics, which is based on the combination of renewable energies with agricultural and livestock farming practices. The company is also fostering a culture based on creativity. The Innovation and Training Campus , a 180,000 m2 complex with state-of-the-art facilities in San Agustín del Guadalix, Madrid, has become the company's global nexus for knowledge, innovation and employability. With nearly 13,000 people receiving training in its classrooms every year, the campus represents Iberdrola's commitment to technology, R&D&I and collaboration with technology centres as levers to lead the energy transition, the green recovery of the economy and the employment and employability of young people and senior professionals in sectors of the future. READ MORE
