Spanish utility Iberdrola and the sovereign wealth fund of Norway managed by Norges Bank Investment Management have announced plans to invest more than €2 billion (US$2.17 billion) to add an additional 1.3GW of renewables in Spain and Portugal over the next two to three years.
A total of 674MW of solar and wind capacity was in the development stage, with the rest to be included in the coming months. Solar accounted for 60%, or about 404MW, of the capacity in the development stage. Wind accounted for 40% or about 270MW of the capacity.
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Iberdrola said final negotiations on exclusivity were also taking place, including an additional 643.5MW of operational and under-development solar PV capacity to the development plan.
Iberdrola will have a majority stake of 51% in the assets. Under the terms of the agreement, the valuation of the 674MW capacity amounted to €627 million.
In the future, the agreement could be extended to other countries.
Nicolai Tangen, Norges Bank Investment Management CEO, said: “The agreement gives us more critical mass in Spain and is also our first step into Portugal.”
Currently, Norges Bank Investment Management holds a stake of 3% in Iberdrola. Based on this relationship, Norges Bank Investment Management decided to make its first direct investment in renewable assets in Spain with Iberdrola.
In June 2023, Iberdrola and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund announced that they would invest in 1.3GW of renewable capacity in Spain, with solar PV projects accounting for 80% of the capacity.
In addition to the development plans with the sovereign wealth fund of Norway, Iberdrola was granted €300 million by the World Bank’s private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to develop renewable energy projects in countries dependent on coal, including Morocco, Vietnam and Poland.
Iberdrola said that of the agreed amount, €170 million had already been committed to finance onshore wind projects in Poland.