Iberdrola has more than doubled its UK investment plans ahead of the International Investment Summit in London next week (14 October).
Through its ScottishPower business, the Spanish developer said it has invested £30bn in the UK over the last 15 years, driven by the country’s clear and stable policies and its predictable regulatory frameworks.
After the acquisition of Electricity North West (ENW), the UK becomes the group’s largest investment destination to 2026.
Given Britain’s significant power demand growth prospects and the energy policies set out to promote net zero, industrialisation and electrification, Iberdrola is now setting out a new plan to upweight and accelerate investment in the UK that could reach £24bn between 2024-28, doubling its previous plan to invest £12bn over the same period.
With the GB electricity grid needing the biggest rewiring ever seen, two thirds of this figure would be directed to transmission and distribution networks.
The developer said transmission investments will increase following the significant upgrades required in the country under the RIIO-T3 framework, to be approved in 2025.
Investments will include a new subsea superhighway, Eastern Green Link 1, between Torness in Scotland and Hawthorn Pit in England.
ScottishPower is also in the latest stages to complete the integration of ENW, the distribution network company covering the north west of England.
In addition, ScottishPower will put in service the 1.4GW East Anglia 3 offshore wind farm, currently under construction, as well as the 900MW East Anglia 2, a £4bn shovel-ready offshore wind farm recently awarded a contract in the AR6 auction and will provide enough green energy to power the equivalent of a million homes.
The company said it also continues investing in new onshore wind, solar and battery projects.
Iberdrola executive chairman and ScottishPower Chairman Ignacio Galán (pictured above on a visit to the 389MW West of Duddon Sands wind farm) will join Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Friday as the Prime Minister convenes the first Council of Nations and Regions.
Iberdrola’s investment announcement comes ahead of the UK government’s International Investment Summit in London on 14 October, which will gather UK leaders, high-profile investors and businesses from across the world to discuss deepening partnership to drive investment and growth.
Galán said: “After having invested more than £30bn in the last 15 years, the clear policy direction, stable regulatory frameworks and overall attractiveness of the UK are leading us to double our investments for 2024-28, reaching up to £24bn.
“This is a vote of confidence in the UK’s clear and stable policies and is a major boost to the economy and the path towards green energy security and net zero.
“The benefits of electrification in terms of energy security, industrial development, jobs and decarbonisation are shared ambitions of the UK and Iberdrola.”
RenewableUK’s executive director of policy Ana Musat said: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the UK’s energy market and in the new government’s clear commitment to the energy transition in its clean power mission, which will include key reforms to the planning system to enable vital new energy infrastructure to be built faster.
“It shows that the UK is one of the most attractive destinations for international investment which will be instrumental in securing tens of thousands of new jobs in Britain’s world-class clean energy sector.
“The government’s International Investment Summit in London, which opens on Monday, also demonstrates the scale of the UK’s ambition to boost our position as a global leader in green growth.
“To continue securing investment, it is essential that the government ensures the business environment remains as attractive as possible, and that the reforms needed to accelerate the energy transition are not detrimental to investor confidence.
“For example, the upcoming package of electricity market reforms should evolve our market arrangements carefully, and steer clear of options like zonal pricing, which would increase the cost of investment across all technologies and make the attainment of clean power by 2030 more expensive.”