Iberdrola pockets €800m to drive renewable growth in Spain
Iberdrola's 500MW Nunez de Balboa project (pictured) was completed earlier this year. Image: Iberdrola.
Spanish utility Iberdrola has landed €800 million (US$903 million) in funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) to spearhead new renewable energy deployment throughout Spain.
The financing package will be put towards the construction of more than 20 solar and wind projects in Spain with a total capacity greater than 2GW.
Iberdrola has signed a green energy loan worth €600 million with the EIB, while the financing issued by the ICO – Spain’s state-owned bank and lending institution – is the third such loan it has granted to Iberdrola for the development of renewables.
Part of the combined financing package will be used to support Iberdrola’s 328MW Cáceres solar farm, located in the Ceclavín and Alcántara municipalities in Spain’s Extremadura, a hotbed of solar PV activity. The project itself will supply power to telecoms giant Orange, it was confirmed earlier this year.
Additional wind and solar projects in various regions in Spain have been identified to be constructed between now and 2023.
Iberdrola said more than 3,000 direct jobs would be created during the construction phase, as well as “several hundred” permanent positions, with the financing going some way to supporting a green recovery to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in Spain.
Ignacio Galán, president at Ibedrola, said a green recovery from the pandemic is the “perfect opportunity to generate sustainable growth and massive future employment.”
“With the agreement we are signing today with the EIB and ICO, we are moving forward with our commitment to accelerate investment and put 3,000 MW of new capacity into service in Spain by 2022 and up to 10,000 MW by 2030,” he said.
Iberdrola has been on the charge in Spain, bringing forward a number of significant utility-scale projects – including Europe’s largest to date – as it looks to take leading role in Spain’s solar resurgence. In April the utility promised to accelerate planned investments in renewables to stimulate economic recovery in the country.
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