The IBERDROLA Chairman, Ignacio Galán, has confirmed the Group’s firm commitment to the United Kingdom, where it plans to invest around 12,000 million pounds throughout this decade.
During his speech last night at the Scottish Low Carbon Investment Conference, a meeting that will end today in Edinburgh, he said that electric power transmission and onshore and offshore renewable energy will be two priority areas for the Company in the coming years.
In this regard, Galán highlighted the energy policy-making process in the United Kingdom, where IBERDROLA operates through ScottishPower since 2007.
He stressed that all these planned investments can be made because electricity distribution and transmission activities have stable and predictable legal frameworks -until 2015 and 2021, respectively- which guarantee return on investment, and that a suitable framework for production using renewable energy sources has just been approved for the 2013-2017 period.
In any case, the IBERDROLA Chairman reminded those present that pending regulatory issues need to be tackled in order to create a favourable atmosphere for making additional investments in the United Kingdom. After pointing out that work is already under way on the new tariff frameworks for distribution -from 2015 to 2023- and renewable energy -from 2017-, he reminded the audience that the Electricity Market Reform still needs to be completed.
At this point, Ignacio Galán stressed that the United Kingdom needs to replace up to 25% of its electricity production network by 2020, and urgent decisions are therefore required in order to avoid a problem of lack of capacity that could even affect guarantee of supply.
The IBERDROLA Chairman, who advocated a scenario where the backup capacity provided by gas plants is adequately remunerated and which contributes to expedite administrative procedures prior to the construction of new infrastructures, defended the key role that efficient combined-cycle plants could play.
Galán reiterated in Edinburgh that regulatory security is essential for the electricity sector, which is key to overcoming the crisis and can become a driver for growth and economic recovery. Indeed, according to Eurostat data, the electricity industry accounts for 5% of European GDP, invests some 40,000 million pounds a year and provides direct employment to around 750,000 people -millions if indirect employment is taken into account.
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Press release, October 11, 2012; Image: Iberdrola