(Oil Price) – Spanish utility giant Iberdrola plans to double its UK investments to $31.3 billion (24 billion British pounds) by 2028, Europe’s biggest electricity company said in a statement.
Iberdrola, one of the biggest utilities and renewable energy developers in Europe and the Americas, previously planned to invest $15.7 billion (12 billion pounds) in the UK between 2024 and 2028.
Now the company plans to double that investment “given Britain’s significant power demand growth prospects and the energy policies set out to promote Net Zero,” Iberdrola said.
Iberdrola owns ScottishPower, the first integrated energy company in the UK to generate 100% green electricity.
With the GB electricity grid needing the biggest rewiring ever seen, Iberdrola will direct two-thirds of its planned investment into transmission and distribution networks.
“This is a vote of confidence in the UK’s clear and stable policies and is a major boost to the economy and the path towards green energy security and Net Zero. The benefits of electrification in terms of energy security, industrial development, jobs, and decarbonization are shared ambitions of the UK and Iberdrola,” executive chairman Ignacio Galán said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Galán told the Financial Times that the company would focus the largest part of its multi-billion investments for 2024-2026 on the United States as its capex plans don’t hinge on the Inflation Reduction Act and a possible repeal of the IRA by a second Trump presidency.
Iberdrola said in March it would invest $44.8 billion (41 billion euros) and hire 10,000 people by 2026 to accelerate electrification in its key markets.
A total of 85% of the investment would go to A-rated markets, and the United States remains Iberdrola’s leading investment destination with 35% of the capex, followed by the UK with 24%, Iberia, 15%, and Latin America, also with 15% of the planned capital expenditure.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
