The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a financing agreement for €100 million with Iberdrola to support the company’s innovation, research and development strategy between 2021 and 2023.
The loan was signed in Madrid by Iberdrola’s chief executive Ignacio Galán (pictured left) and EIB Vice-President Ricardo Mourinho Félix (right) who is responsible for the Bank’s activity in Spain and Portugal.
The funds obtained will promote the development of innovative and sustainable technologies, aligned with the energy transition, decarbonisation and electrification of the economy.
This will include R&D in renewables, the production of green hydrogen and the development of floating wind and photovoltaic installations.
It will also cover the integration of clean energy into the system, through pumped hydroelectric plants and batteries.
Iberdrola will also develop new solutions for customers, promoting energy efficiency and a more personalised service, as well as enhancing electric mobility.
In this area, it will seek to enhance digitalisation, automation and cybersecurity.
Galán said: “R&D&I is in our company’s blood and we continue to be committed to being more innovative, more efficient and more customer-oriented.
“We must increase our ambition and the green revolution and innovation must be combined as key pieces in the economic recovery.
“We have been demonstrating this over the last two decades in a pioneering way and with agreements such as the one reached today with the European Investment Bank we will reinforce our innovation and research strategy to continue to anticipate the future, building solutions today so that we can meet the challenges of tomorrow.”
Félix added: “The EIB is strongly committed to supporting investment that underpins the improvement of the European economy’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy by fostering investment projects in research, development and innovation, especially those related to the energy sector, within the scope of the Bank’s Climate Action.
“Once again, this agreement underlines the EIB’s role as a key player in the European economy and a major financier of clean energy and climate-action-related investments.”
Iberdrola’s R&D&I strategy contributes to the development of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) and meets the EU’s new clean energy targets.
In addition to enhancing the company’s competitiveness and maximising the use of technology in value-adding activities, improving processes and the productivity of its assets and making its activities more efficient, Iberdrola said support from the EIB will help to combat climate change through technologies that will enable the supply of more sustainable, competitive and efficient solutions.