Ignacio Galán, president of Iberdrola, at the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm, in UK waters

• Iberdrola takes a majority stake in three DP Energy projects on the East, West and South coast of the country, which will be eligible for the next offshore auction in 2025-2030
• The company already operates 'offshore' wind farms in waters of the United Kingdom and Germany, working on new developments in the British market, the United States and France, thus completing its portfolio of more than 30 GW with Japan, Sweden, Poland and, now, Ireland

Iberdrola once again reinforces its commitment to offshore wind at the beginning of the year with the entry into a new market, Ireland, as a new growth platform for its expansion strategy in renewables. The company has reached an agreement with DP Energy to acquire a majority stake in its offshore portfolio: 3 GW, distributed in three clusters with projects on the East, West and South coast of the country, which will compete for the next auction in 2025- 2030.

The agreement also includes the acquisition of a majority stake in DP Energy, which will be in charge of developing this future wind portfolio in the coming years.

The agreement also includes the acquisition by Iberdrola of a majority stake in the company created by DP Energy in charge of developing this offshore wind portfolio in Ireland.

The projects included in the agreement are the Inis Ealga park, on the south coast of Co. Cork and the Clarus project, on the west coast of Co. Clare, both to be developed with floating offshore wind technology. The third, the Shelmalere project, will be located off the east coast and would be carried out with fixed foundation offshore wind technology. Once operational, the projects would generate green energy for an equivalent population of 2.6 million Irish households.

POSITIONING IN MARKETS WITH GROWTH POTENTIAL

The operation allows Iberdrola to advance its strategy of geographical diversification in markets with a favorable investment environment and to position itself in the initial stage of development of the Irish offshore wind market, with great growth potential in the coming years.

Ireland has an ambitious strategy for climate mitigation and transformation of its energy mix - now based on gas, coal and oil - and has supported the achievement of its energy objectives in the development of offshore wind projects. Government plans foresee the connection of 5 GW of this technology by 2030 and experts estimate a potential of approximately 40 GW.

Iberdrola's partner in this strategy, DP Energy -an international promoter based in Cork-, has experience in the renewable industry, knowledge of the local market and is a company known for Iberdrola, since it develops the hydro project together with its subsidiary Infigen Port Augusta, in Australia.

PORTFOLIO OF MORE THAN 30 GW IN OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

This agreement in the Irish market is in line with Iberdrola's strategy of consolidating itself as the largest renewable company in the world and is in addition to other transactions carried out by the company in recent years in the offshore wind segment.

These operations have allowed the development of parks in the German Baltic Sea (Wikinger and Baltic Eagle), in the North Sea ( East Anglia ONE and East Anglia Hub), the Irish Sea (West of Duddon Sands), the coast of Massachusetts (Vineyard Wind), French (Saint Brieuc) and, more recently, access to early-stage capacities of 9 GW in Sweden, more than 3 GW in Japan and up to 7.3 GW in Poland. In Denmark, Iberdrola has also agreed to go with Total to the next offshore auction in the country with the Thor offshore wind farm, with a capacity of up to 1GW.

Following this latest transaction, the company increases its portfolio of offshore wind projects in the world to more than 30 GW.

STRENGTHENING THE IRISH MARKET

With this operation in Ireland, Iberdrola stars in its first corporate operation so far this year, having completed a dozen in 2020, despite the challenges of COVID-19.

The company also reinforces its presence in the Irish renewable market, where it has been operating for two decades and develops large capacity wind and storage projects, in addition to deploying its energy sales area.

In Ireland, Iberdrola foresees an investment of up to 100 million euros in new renewable and storage projects by 2025. Its actions under development include the repowering of the Barnesmore wind farm, in County Donegal, and the projects in Northern Ireland from Rigged Hill and Corkey; all of them with storage. It is also building the largest battery installation in the country, in Gorman (50 MW), which will be operational this year.

GREEN INVESTMENTS TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Iberdrola is convinced that the energy transition can act as a key driving agent in the transformation of the industrial fabric and in the green recovery of the economy and employment.

To this end, the company has launched a historic investment plan of 75,000 million euros for the period 2020-2025, with the aim of doubling its renewable capacity and taking advantage of the opportunities of the energy revolution facing the main economies of the world.

After twenty years promoting the energy transition, with investments of 120,000 million euros, Iberdrola is a leader in renewable energy, with an installed capacity of more than 33 GW, which makes its generation park one of the cleanest in the energy sector .

With CO2 / kWh emissions that are already two-thirds lower than the European average, the investment strategy in clean energy and networks will lead Iberdrola to be a carbon-neutral company in Europe by 2030.

KeyFacts Energy: Renewable Energy news