The Diplomat
Iberdrola, through its subsidiary ScottishPower, has launched the largest tender in the United Kingdom for a value of 5,400 million pounds sterling (about 6,282 million euros) to improve obsolete electricity network lines and prepare them to integrate and transport the new renewable capacity.
Specifically, the design, development and updating of the new network infrastructure will involve the construction of new high voltage substations, the installation of overhead lines, as well as design, engineering and construction works. Jobs that will involve the creation of green jobs in the coming decades, Europa Press reports.
The contracts will cover the next 10 years and include transport projects in central and southern Scotland. They will enable more green energy to be integrated across the country to help deliver a low-carbon future, connecting between 80 and 85 gigawatts (GW) of clean renewable energy to Britain’s system, reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, the company reported.
With electricity demand expected to double over the next 10 years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the UK needs more than 600,000 kilometers of new or upgraded power lines to meet its needs.
Electrical networks are the backbone of the transition by facilitating the integration of renewable energies into the system. Investment in networks favors security of supply and resilience in the face of extreme climate phenomena and develops the digitalization of the system, so necessary for the expansion of electric mobility, self-consumption or heat pumps.
In November, the UK Government announced plans to halve the time it takes to build high-voltage power lines and cut the time it takes to connect to the grid. Its package of measures aims to support economic growth and establish the UK as one of the best countries in the world to invest in renewable energy.
Scottish Power CEO Keith Anderson highlighted that these investment plans will help grow the energy company’s electricity networks, increase the workforce and “will provide a huge opportunity for the supply chain, while unlocking economic growth.” in general”.
“It is vital that we take seriously the work of building this new network so that we can harness green energy, transport it across the country and ensure our energy security to keep the United Kingdom a leader in decarbonisation,” he added.
United Kingdom, a strategic country for the group
Last November, the energy company chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán already announced that it would boost its investment commitment to the United Kingdom, a strategic country for the group, in the coming years up to the figure of 12,000 million pounds (about 13,823 million euros ) in the period 2024-2028.
Specifically, Iberdrola confirmed an investment of 7,000 million pounds (about 8,065 million euros) within this investment package in a great boost for Net Zero and the renewable energy sector in the country.
The group has invested nearly 30,000 million pounds (about 35,000 million euros) in the country in the last 15 years. In its 2023-2025 strategic plan, which foresees a record investment plan of 47,000 million euros in that period, the United Kingdom was already the second main destination of Iberdrola’s investments, with 16% of the total -6,700 million pounds, in the highest investment made by the company in the country -, only behind the United States – with 47% -, and ahead of Spain (13%). The energy company will launch its new strategic plan on March 21.
Iberdrola has more than 40 onshore wind farms and two offshore wind farms in operation in the United Kingdom with a total installed capacity of more than 2,900 megawatts (MW).
In addition, it is developing the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm, the second largest in the world with an investment of almost 4 billion pounds (about 4.6 billion euros).
