By Iberdrola has increased its commitment to offshore wind by entering into a new market for the company in Poland, as its renewable energy business continues to expand.
The company has reached an agreement to acquire a 50 percent stake in the Sea Wind developer, which has a seven-project pipeline at an early stage of development, with a potential capacity of up to 7.3 GW.
The agreement helps Iberdrola to further expand its strategy of geographical diversification in markets with favorable investment conditions, such as A-credit-rated Poland. The change also enables the company to place itself at the initial stage of the creation of the offshore wind market of the country, with great potential for growth in the coming decades.
With this deal, Iberdrola is also encouraging the development of an offshore wind hub in the Baltic Sea, which will serve as the epicenter of offshore services and local content for the company’s projects in Germany, Poland and Sweden.
The agreement between Iberdrola and Sea Wind establishes a deep partnership that is also open to the potential convergence of Polish partners.
Sea Wind has an experienced offshore wind construction team with an in-depth knowledge of the Polish market. Both companies have previously worked together to build the Baltic Eagle project off the German coast.
The size of the Polish offshore wind market and its geographical position in the Baltic Sea allow Iberdrola to commit its technological and financial capabilities to a long-term vision aligned with the country’s energy plans.
Poland has adopted a policy to decarbonize its energy mix while enhancing energy independence and aims to build up to 8 GW of offshore wind power by 2030. The Baltic Sea has an offshore wind capacity of 93 GW, of which 28 GW are in Polish waters.
The alliance with Sea Wind is in-line with Iberdrola’s strategy to consolidate as the world’s largest renewable energy company and builds on previous transactions carried out in recent years in the offshore wind business.
These operations have allowed for the development of projects in the German Baltic Sea (Wikinger and Baltic Eagle), the North Sea (East Anglia ONE and The East Anglia Hub), the Irish Sea (West of Duddon Sands), the coast of Massachusetts (Vineyard Wind), and the coast of Britany (Saint Brieuc). More recently, the company has gained access to early stage pipelines in Sweden (9 GW) and Japan (+3 GW). Prior to the today’s transaction, the company had an offshore wind project pipeline of 20.2 GW.
In addition to the offshore wind energy transactions in France, Sweden and Japan, the company has also acquired the French renewable energy company Aalto Power; reached agreements to develop 165 MW of onshore wind capacity in Scotland and 400 MW in Brazil; reinforced ownership of Saint Brieuc offshore wind project to 100 percent; acquired Infigen Energy – to become one of the leading renewable energy operators in Australia; acquired PNM Resources – an electricity company in New Mexico and Texas; and, only recently, acquired the Brazilian distributor CEB-D in Brasilia.
Iberdrola believes that the energy transition can act as a key driving force in the transformation of industry, a green economic recovery and job creation.
With this focus Iberdrola has launched a major €75 billion investment plan for the 2020-2025 period, with the aim of doubling its renewable capacity and taking advantage of the opportunities created by the energy revolution in the world’s major economies.
After twenty years driving the energy transition, with investments of over €120 billion with an installed capacity of more than 33 GW, making its generation fleet one of the cleanest in the energy industry.
With CO2/kWh emissions already two thirds lower than the European average, the investment strategy in clean energy and networks will lead Iberdrola to become carbon neutral in Europe by 2030.
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