Iberdrola will put its investments in 2020 on a fast track with an aim to surpass last year’s investment record and reach € 10 billion. This will lead to some 4.5 GW of new capacity currently under construction to be commissioned this year.
During Iberdrola’s Annual General Meeting, the company’s chairman Ignacio Galán said the speeding up of the investments and projects will contribute to economic activity and prevent loss of jobs, referring to the current global situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the last few days we’ve brought forward over €3.8 billion in orders to thousands of suppliers, with purchases in progress for delivery by 2023 standing at more than €20 billion,” Galán said as he announced a procurement plan that would give visibility to the entire supply chain, while promoting economic activity and jobs.
Iberdrola has 9,000 MW of new capacity currently under construction and now plans for at least half of that to be commissioned this year.
The company said that it is advancing on new offshore wind farms, along with other renewable energy projects. These include Saint Brieuc and Baltic Eagle offshore wind farms in France and Germany, respectively, and the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm in the United States, developed through Iberdrola’s U.S. company Avangrid Renewables.
Iberdrola has also said that it expected to hire 5,000 new employees this year, which will bring its total number of employees to more than 40,000.
When it comes to the COVID-19 situation, Iberdrola has put in place an integrated plan which includes 107 measures to contain the spread of the pandemic and assure the supply of electricity to citizens.
The news from the company’s Annual General Meeting come a few days after Iberdrola announced its floating wind moves. Namely, the company recently joined two floating wind demonstration projects, one in Norway and one in Spain.