Iberdrola and Masdar will invest 15 billion in hydrogen and offshore wind

New alliance between Iberdrola and Masdar. The Spanish electricity company and the Abu Dhabi renewables group announced this Tuesday at COP28 a strategic agreement to jointly invest up to 15 billion euros. Based on this signing, the two companies will evaluate the development of new offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The company chaired by Ignacio Sánchez Galán has reported in a statement that the first milestone of the alliance will be to co-invest in the British East Anglia 3 offshore wind project, of 1,400 megawatts (MW), which is in the final phase of negotiation and will be able to be signed at the end of the first quarter of 2024. Masdar’s participation in this wind farm could reach up to 49%.

East Anglia 3 is already under construction and is expected to come into operation in the fourth quarter of 2026. In July 2022, Iberdrola signed contracts for differences (CfD) with the British Government for the sale of energy from the park at a price that It will increase depending on inflation. The project will power more than 1.3 million homes and create 2,300 jobs.

Objective: facilitate the global energy transition

Beyond the East Anglia 3 transaction, both companies will work to jointly invest in future offshore wind and green hydrogen projects in Europe and other markets. Work is already underway to identify. This project, announced at the UN Climate Change Conference COP28 in the United Arab Emirates, demonstrates the firm commitment of both companies to accelerate the global energy transition, says Iberdrola.

“Now that 118 governments have already committed at COP28 to tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030, achieving this goal will require immediate action by governments and the private sector. After decades of commitment to renewables, grids and storage, this innovative alliance with Masdar today demonstrates once again our determination to continue increasing investments,” said Sánchez Galán.

For his part, the Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology of the United Arab Emirates, President of Masdar and President of COP28, Al Jaber, welcomed the alliance to “promote renewable energies in Europe and around the world” . “At COP28, we know that the world must triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 to keep 1.5°C within our reach. Strong partnerships like the one Masdar and Iberdrola have today will drive us towards this goal,” he stressed. .

‘Plus’ of 1,900 million in Ebitda for 2026-2027

Iberdrola foresees a contribution to gross operating profit (Ebitda) of 1,900 million euros for 2026-2027 thanks to its progress in offshore wind, compared to 700 million euros in 2022 and 1,200 million in 2025-2026. The electricity company has five projects under construction and expects an installed power of 4.8 gigawatts (GW) within three years. The offshore wind farms will be found in France, the United States and Germany.

The company affirms that its expansion plan in offshore wind is assured until 2026 on all fronts: in terms of supply chains for the construction period; the resources necessary to build the parks on time and on budget, and to operate them efficiently; and regarding income with assured energy sales. Regarding Spain, Iberdrola has planned four offshore wind farms in the country, located in Gran Canaria, Lugo, A Coruña and Girona. Together they would total 1,718 MW and would represent more than 6,000 million euros of investment. The Government has identified almost 5,000 square kilometers of waters for the deployment of offshore wind, which represents 0.5% of the total (compared to 0.7% of the drafts).

However, the country is far behind in offshore wind compared to the rest of Europe due to the lack of regulation. At the end of February, the Maritime Space Planning Plans (POEM) were approved after four years of work and now it is time to establish the regulatory framework and launch the first capacity auction, which the Executive planned to hold within the first half of the year before the change. . electoral. The Executive plans to launch the regulatory framework before the end of the year and the Roadmap for the development of Offshore Wind and Sea Energy includes a target of between 1 and 3 GW of installed power in 2030.