Iberdrola to spend EUR 17bn on renewables in 2023-2025

Spanish utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) will invest around EUR 17 billion (USD 17.1bn) in renewables in 2023-2025 to reach about 52 GW of total installed clean power capacity by the end of the planning period, the company said in the Capital Markets Day presentation on Wednesday.

The plan is part of a EUR-47-billion spending package that is meant to shoot Iberdrola’s EBITDA to a EUR-16.5-billion-17.0-billion range in 2025, and boost net profit to EUR 5.2 billion and over.

Iberdrola said it would invest EUR 27 billion in the grids business, a sum that also includes costs of the protracted acquisition of US utilities holding PNM Resources Inc (NYSE:PNM).

As for renewables, Iberdrola will use the investment to build around 12 GW of new capacity, focusing on “high-quality projects with the best risk/reward profile”. The new capacity will be divided between 3.1 GW of onshore wind, 6.3 GW of solar PV, 1.8 GW of offshore wind, 0.7 GW of batteries and 0.2 GW of hydro. Iberdrola said that some 5.7 GW of these projects are either under construction or in ready-to-build stage.

Most of the renewables money will go to the US, which will receive 26% of the total, followed by the European Union excluding Spain (25%), the UK (20%), Spain (18%), Australia and others (6%) and Brazil (4%).

Investments in the production and customers business, which is where Iberdrola includes renewables, are expected generate EBITDA of between EUR 8 billion and EUR 8.5 billion in 2025, compared to EUR 6.5 billion projected for the 2022 fiscal year, according to the presentation.

“If we are to learn one lesson from the current crisis, it is the compelling need to deliver electrification quickly for a more secure, clean and competitive energy system,” said Iberdrola executive chairman Ignacio Galan. “The record global investment plans we have set out today will help us to bring more self-sufficiency and resilience against potential energy shocks in the countries where we operate, by reducing their dependency on oil and gas and by continuing their path to Net Zero”.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.006)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!