Iberdrola triumphs in the UK's largest offshore wind auction with an investment of 22.5 billion euros

Iberdrola has been awarded 7,000 MW of offshore wind power in Scotland in the largest tender to date by the Crown Estate Scotland, which will involve a total investment of 22.5 billion euros. The group has been awarded the development of three large-scale projects: two with floating technology, to be developed in partnership with Shell, and the third on a fixed structure.

The awarded areas, which could supply clean energy to almost 8.5 million homes, three times the number of homes in Scotland, are as follows:

• MarramWind, a 3,000 MW floating technology project off the north-east coast of Scotland to be developed together with Shell.
• CampionWind, a 2,000 MW floating technology project on the east coast of Scotland, also with Shell.
• MachairWind, a 2,000 MW project with fixed foundations in waters off the Isle of Islay in the Hebrides, west of Scotland. This development is wholly owned by Iberdrola.

Iberdrola's Chairman, Ignacio Galán, stressed that "the trend towards climate neutrality is unstoppable, but making it a reality requires decarbonising the energy sector and in this process offshore wind technology is essential due to its immense energy potential, its competitiveness and the great opportunities for industrial development and job creation. The award of Scotwind shows our commitment to Scotland and the UK.

"Iberdrola is a global leader in offshore wind," added Galán, "with more than €5.5 billion invested in the UK, continental Europe and the US, and plans to reach €30 billion by 2030 by strengthening our existing markets and entering several Asian countries. The huge investment opportunity presented by this technology requires partnerships, such as the one we have with Shell for these projects," he said. 

The MarramWind and CampionWind sites, located in deeper water than Islay, will be the world's first large-scale floating offshore wind farms and will be the forerunners of a new industry sector with Scotland and the UK leading the way.

The three projects, due to be commissioned from 2030, are part of the ScotWind programme and involve a combined investment of around €22.5 billion, of which almost €12 billion has been committed to Scottish companies and institutions, including a Supply Chain Stimulus Fund of almost €90 million.

Each project has created its own digital portal to register and recruit interested companies across the supply chain that will have the opportunity to collaborate with Iberdrola and Shell. This is a pivotal moment that will strengthen the UK's position as a world leader in offshore wind and boost the UK economy, with the Spanish company at the centre of this transformation.

With these projects, the company triples its UK offshore wind portfolio to more than 10,000 MW.

Iberdrola is a world leader in offshore wind development, with an operational capacity, pipeline and early-stage developments of approximately 37,000 MW. Focused on countries with ambitious targets, the company expects to have 12,000 MW of offshore wind power in operation by 2030 and cumulative investments in excess of 30 billion euros worldwide.

After 15 years developing offshore technologies, the company chaired by Ignacio Galán is once again a pioneer, as it was in its day in onshore wind power. Iberdrola currently operates 1,258 MW in the United Kingdom and Germany, with an investment of more than 5,500 million euros, and has 4,100 MW under construction or with construction assured in the United States, France and Germany, with a committed investment of more than 15,000 million euros.

In addition, it has a project portfolio of 31,500 MW in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Brazil, a portfolio that could increase in the coming years thanks to the numerous auctions in which the company is participating. The potential investments associated with this portfolio of projects, many of which could mature beyond 2030, could be estimated at 90 billion euros.

Iberdrola is aware that the fight against climate change requires strengthened collaboration between the business world, governments and civil society. For this reason, the company has created an extensive programme of business alliances around the world to undertake a monumental investment effort in renewable energies, smart grids, green hydrogen, storage technologies, as well as in innovation and research, which must be mobilised over the next two decades in order to mitigate and curb global warming.

Iberdrola is carrying out its investment plans in alliance with companies such as Shell, Total, Macquarie and many others in countries such as Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, demonstrating the need to join forces to accelerate the electrification of the economy as much as possible.

Offshore wind is key to the decarbonisation of the energy sector due to its capacity to generate an immense amount of clean energy, which is increasingly competitive. As a result, its growth is accelerating very significantly and worldwide installed capacity is expected to grow from around 40,000 MW today to 400,000 MW by 2035. In the current decade alone, investment by companies in the sector will exceed ¤670 billion.

This is a complex technology in which the experience accumulated by companies such as Iberdrola is essential. Competitiveness in this sector is based on optimising processes to reduce costs, but also on having the necessary capacities for planning, development, design, construction and operation, as well as access to the necessary capital.

Through the deployment of Iberdrola offshore wind, the case of Navantia-Windar stands out, which has contracts awarded by Iberdrola worth 1.3 billion euros.  The projects already underway alone have led to the creation of 3,000 jobs, and the latest collaboration agreement between Iberdrola, Navantia and Windar has added 2,000 direct jobs and several thousand more jobs in subcontracting.