The President of the United States, Joe Biden, accompanied by the President of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, today visited one of the facilities that are part of the plan of the listed subsidiary of Iberdrola in the country for the construction of projects offshore wind farms in New England. The electricity company chaired by Ignacio Galán will invest 10,000 million dollars in it throughout this decade.
Biden met with Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galán, accompanied by 25 American officials and businessmen. They were also joined by the President’s National Climate Advisor and former head of the US Environment Agency, Gina McCarthy, and several members of Congress from Massachusetts. President Biden made a point of highlighting the new energy policy of the United States and the support of his government for Iberdrola’s investments in North America.
All three offshore wind farms are already under construction or in advanced development, and all have long-term power sales contracts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They will have a total capacity of 2,800 MW, create nearly 11,000 new jobs and provide emission-free energy to nearly 1.6 million homes and businesses.
The first of the three parks, Vineyard Wind, will be the first large-scale park in the United States and will begin generating power late next year. Thus, Iberdrola demonstrates its pioneering character in this sector in the United States.
As part of the proposal made when the third of the offshore wind farms, Commonwealth Wind, was awarded, Iberdrola has committed to promoting Massachusetts’ first offshore wind power cable manufacturing facility on the land of a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts (Brayton Point), which Joe Biden visited today. The plant, which will create many local jobs, is expected to open in early 2026 and supply cables to Iberdrola Commonwealth Wind projects such as Park City Wind.
Biden met with Iberdrola Chairman Ignacio Galán and was accompanied by 25 US officials and businessmen. In addition, the President’s National Climate Advisor and former head of the US Environment Agency, Gina McCarthy, and several members of Congress from Massachusetts were present. The US President’s visit to the future offshore wind cable manufacturing plant is a declaration of intent regarding the country’s new energy policy.
The first of the three farms, Vineyard Wind, with 800 MW of installed capacity and an investment of 2,500 million euros, is the first commercial-scale wind farm in the United States and one of Iberdrola’s largest in the world. . Its construction, which officially began in November 2021, continues to progress and it is expected to start generating power late next year. With it, Iberdrola demonstrates its pioneering character in this sector in the United States.
Additionally, in December 2021, the company won a contract for the Commonwealth Wind offshore wind farm in Massachusetts. The 1,232 megawatt (MW) project, New England’s largest offshore wind project to date, will involve an investment of $4 billion. As part of the project, Iberdrola set out to develop Massachusetts’ first offshore wind power cable manufacturing plant on the grounds of a former coal-fired power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts (Brayton Point). The plant, which will create many local jobs, is expected to open in early 2026 and supply cables to Iberdrola Commonwealth Wind projects such as Park City Wind.
It is also developing in the same area Park City Wind, an 804 MW project that will provide clean energy to customers in Connecticut, while revitalizing the Port of Bridgeport, which houses the operations and maintenance office and the warehouse. for facing construction components. The project is expected to be completed in 2027.
growth story
The story of Iberdrola in the United States is one of success. In less than two decades, the company chaired by Ignacio Galán has become, through its subsidiary listed in the country, Avangrid, one of the largest groups in the North American electricity sector, listed since 2015 on the New York Stock Exchange. . He helped make Iberdrola the most valuable company on the Spanish Stock Exchange with a capitalization of around 61,000 million euros and the leading European energy company.
The company operates in 25 states and manages more than 9,300 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, including more than 8,500 MW of renewables (primarily wind and solar PV), and more than 170,000 miles of power lines across eight distributors in New York. , Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts. In addition, the Spanish company has a portfolio of high-quality renewable projects in the United States of more than 22,000 MW, which represents a stable platform for continued growth over the next few years as the country achieves its goals of decarbonization.
In addition to being one of the three largest wind and solar energy companies in the United States, Iberdrola is a leader in offshore wind, with a portfolio of more than 5,300 MW at the end of the first quarter of 2022. .
Iberdrola also owns the Kitty Hawk development area (2,500 MW), in the waters of North Carolina and Virginia, and has begun the process of obtaining permits from the Federal Office of Energy Management Marine (BOEM) for Kitty Hawk North (800 MW), the first proposed project in this area.
Thanks to the company’s commitment to renewable energy, Avangrid’s CO2 emissions intensity was already 6.5 times lower than the US utility average at the end of last fiscal year.