The Diplomat
Iberdrola has increased its renewable capacity by 9.1% in the last 12 months, placing it at the end of March at 38,305 megawatts (MW) ‘green’ installed, according to data submitted by the company to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
Specifically, the energy company chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán has commissioned 3,200 MW of new renewables in the last year, in line with its strategy based on a decarbonised and competitive economy.
With this investment effort in renewable energies, Iberdrola strengthens its global leadership in wind power, with a 4.9% increase in wind power capacity -onshore and offshore- to 20,705 MW. Of these, 1,258 MW are offshore and 19,447 MW are onshore.
In the first quarter, among the group’s new wind power projects, the incorporation of the Golden Hills wind farm in Oregon (USA), with more than 200 MW, and the 55 MW of Paraíba in Brazil stood out.
It also highlighted the significant growth of its photovoltaic capacity, which increased by 60% – with 1,219 MW of new installed capacity – and exceeded 3,261 MW at the end of the first quarter of this year.
Within this technology, Iberdrola commissioned the 553 MW Francisco Pizarro plant in Cáceres (Extremadura), the 50 MW Revilla-Vallejera plant in Burgos (Castilla y León), and the 88 MW Port Augusta solar plant (Australia).
Meanwhile, battery storage systems have an installed capacity of 193 MW, an increase of 135% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
In line with the company’s commitment to decarbonisation, the energy group’s renewable capacity has improved in most of the countries where the company operates, with growth in Spain (+9.9%), the United Kingdom (+2%), the United States (+4.5%), Brazil (+14.6%), and the rest of the world, where renewable capacity has grown by 29%.
Thanks to these investments in onshore wind and new installed capacity, Iberdrola has managed to increase its own production with this clean energy by 6.6%, to 12,121 gigawatt hours (GWh).
However, this increase does not manage to offset the negative hydroelectric quarter in Spain, so own production with renewable energy fell by 4.9% to 21,689 GWh.
In the first quarter of 2022, renewable energy production grew in all countries, except in Spain, due to the lack of rainfall, where it fell by 38.5%. Of particular note is the drop in the group’s hydroelectric generation in Spain in the first period, down 59.4% compared to the first quarter of last year.
This fall in Spain in the generation of ‘green’ energy is detrimental to the overall performance of the group, which suffered a cut in its total production in the first quarter of 2022 of 0.9% compared to the same period last year, to 42,626 gigawatt hours (GWh).
This contrasts with the performance of the other markets where the group is present, which recorded significant growth in the period in its production with renewables: United Kingdom (+20.6%), United States (7.8%), Mexico (+6.1%), Brazil (+49%) and the rest of the world (+14%).
In terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, 81% of the group’s global installed capacity as of March is emission-free, compared to 79% a year earlier, while 83% of its worldwide production in the first quarter of this year is emission-free – in Europe this figure already exceeds 89%.
