Friday, November 06, 2020

Iberdrola's green spending spree eclipses European Big Oil's plans

Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025

Scottish Power outlines new £10bn investment in green energy


Iberdrola's green spending spree eclipses European Big Oil's plans
FILE PHOTO: berdrola CEO, Jose Ignacio Galan speaks during a press conference
near Ribeira da Pena

Thu, 5 November 2020

By Ron Bousso


LONDON (Reuters) - Spanish wind energy group Iberdrola's plans to spend around $88 billion (67.5 billion pounds) on renewable power by 2025 eclipse Europe's top oil companies' combined planned investments in low-carbon over the same period.

Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, Norway's Equinor, Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni aim to grow their low-carbon businesses after setting out plans to sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

The group's combined spending on renewables such as offshore wind and solar power as well as retail businesses in some cases is set to grow nearly 10-fold over the next five years from $7.35 billion in 2020 to $69.2 billion by 2025, according to company announcements and Reuters estimates.

Iberdrola said on Thursday it plans to invest 75 billion euros (67.7 billion pounds) in its renewable energy production, grids and retail business by 2025 to capitalise on growing global demand for clean power.

Goldman Sachs estimates that Europe's Big Oil companies could spend close to half of their capital expenditure on low carbon activities compared with 10% to 15% in 2019.

Their installed power capacity is expected to grow 20 fold from 7 gigawatt (GW) currently to over 140 GW by 2030, the bank said in a note in September.

For an interactive version of this chart see https://tmsnrt.rs/3p2kPvg 

Graphic: Green spending spree - https://graphics.reuters.com/EUROPE-CAPEX/qmypmjzbavr/chart.png

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025



Iberdrola to invest £67 billion in 'energy revolution' by 2025An Iberdrola's power generating wind turbine is seen against cloudy sky at Moranchon wind farm


By Isla Binnie  

Thu, 5 November 2020, 

MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish wind energy group Iberdrola <IBE.MC> plans to invest 75 billion euros (67.7 billion pounds) in its renewable energy production, grids and retail operations by 2025 to capitalise on growing global demand for clean power, it said on Thursday.

Countries and companies the world over are seeking to cut emissions to combat climate change, buoying renewables-focused companies including Iberdrola.

Pursuing the opportunities created by the "energy revolution" facing the world's major economies should help to boost net profit by more than 40% from 2019 to 5 billion euros in 2025, Iberdrola said.

Shares rose throughout morning trade and were up 3.1% on the day at 1300 GMT, outperforming a positive Spanish stock index <.IBEX> and taking Iberdrola's gains so far this year to around a quarter. It has become Spain's second biggest company after Zara owner Inditex <ITX.MC>.

For years, renewable companies have struggled to generate big profits, while fossil fuels have provided easier margins, but as COVID-19 lockdowns have hobbled energy use and hammered oil and gas markets, the investment focus has been transformed.

Oil and gas companies, including Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, BP <BP.L> and Total <TOTF.PA>, are moving towards renewable power, but Iberdrola's new spending plan eclipses their combined planned investments in low carbon.

Other utilities are joining Iberdrola in building green capacity and wind energy is set to reach record growth globally over the next five years.

Denmark's Orsted <ORSTED.CO> is in the midst of a $30 billion investment plan and Italy-based Enel <ENEI.MI>, the region's leader, has set aside 14.4 billion euros to build renewables capacity and phase out coal between 2020 and 2022.

Iberdrola promises steady earnings for its shareholders.

They will receive between 0.40 and 0.44 euros per share by 2025 as the company sets aside a total of 94 billion euros for both the investment plan and its dividend plan, Iberdrola Chief Financial Officer Jose Sainz said.

The money will mainly come from operations and cash management, but 19% will be from taking on debt, Sainz said.

Half the overall investment will be split between the United States, where it announced last month its local unit Avangrid <AGR.N> would buy utility PNM Resources <PNM.N>, and Britain, where it owns Scottish Power.

At home in Spain, spending, mainly on renewables and networks, will more than double to 14.35 billion euros over the life of the plan.

Iberdrola hopes one costly Spanish project, building capacity to produce hydrogen from renewable sources, will get European Union funds as the bloc seeks to emerge from a coronavirus-induced recession by focusing spending on sustainability.

By 2030 Iberdrola aims to increase solar and onshore wind capacity by 2.5 times and offshore wind power by 4.5 times, to reach a total generation portfolio of 95 gigawatts (GW).

(Reporting by Isla Binnie, additional reporting by Jose Elias Rodriguez; Editing by David Goodman and Barbara Lewis)

Scottish Power outlines new £10bn investment in green energy


August Graham, PA City Reporter
Thu, 5 November 2020, 10:47 am GMT-7·2-min read

Scottish Power is planning to invest another £10 billion into the UK’s green recovery over the next five years, it has revealed.


It comes weeks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced big ambitions to power all UK homes with offshore wind.

The company said on Thursday that it will nearly double its renewable generation capacity, adding a further 2.4 gigawatts (GW) by the middle of the decade.

It is part of a larger plan by Scottish Power’s Spanish parent company Iberdrola to pour 75 billion euros (£67.2 billion) into renewables around the world.

The company’s plans will mean new solar, wind and battery infrastructure, and thousands of new jobs spread across the UK, chief executive Keith Anderson said.

“This is a huge, big wave of investment to help drive forward decarbonisation in each of the countries we operate in,” he told the PA news agency.


“We’re all talking in the UK about a green recovery and our view is that it is companies like us that are going to be at the forefront of creating a green recovery, of accelerating the road to net-zero and create jobs and apprenticeship opportunities.”

Last month, Mr Johnson promised all of the UK’s 30 million homes will be powered by offshore wind by the end of this decade.

The UK has a goal of reducing its emissions to net-zero by the middle of the century.

The green ambitions will need several more billions of pounds invested into the UK’s green plans.

“Statements and announcements from the Prime Minister become so important because that’s what sets the ambition and drags companies in and makes this look attractive,” Mr Anderson said.

“One of the best examples of this is that you now see oil and gas companies, companies like Shell saying ‘hang on a minute, we want to come and join the party’.”

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