Iberdrola and the EIB sign a green loan of 550 million to promote renewable energies in rural areas of Castilla y León.
The new facilities will provide clean energy equivalent to the annual consumption of nearly one million homes.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Iberdrola have signed a new agreement to accelerate the energy transition in Spain with the development of new renewable capacities. The EU bank will provide a green loan of €550 million for the construction of a portfolio of projects with a total capacity of nearly 1,800 megawatts (MW). These facilities will produce green and competitive energy equivalent to the average annual consumption of nearly one million households. All the parks will represent a total investment of more than 1,100 million euros.
Overall, the new infrastructure will create approximately 2,100 jobs per year during the construction phase, to which must be added those generated during the operation phase, as well as those created in other related sectors. All this gives this agreement a significant capacity when it comes to contributing to the sustainable recovery of the economy and the creation of jobs. In addition, the operation has a strategic value, since it aims to strengthen European energy autonomy with renewable energies.
The EIB will finance photovoltaic power plants and wind farms in various Spanish municipalities, located mainly in the rural areas of Castilla y León and Extremadura, considered cohesion regions by the European Union. Part of the funding will go to projects such as the 200 MW Tagus and 80 MW Almaraz photovoltaic power plants in Extremadura or the Valdemoro wind farm (50 MW) in Castilla y León. Thanks to these investments, not only will the production of clean energy be increased, but the security of supply will also be improved.
The EIB Vice-President, Ricardo Mourinho Felix, assured: “The new green loan signed with Iberdrola allows us to increase our contribution to making Spain a country with greater renewable capacity, a key factor for Europe to achieve its climate goals. As an EU bank, we continue to support projects aligned with our “climate roadmap”, while promoting the security of energy supply in Europe in the current delicate context. We are happy to support Iberdrola in projects that will generate economic growth and employment in the cohesion regions”.
The president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, explained that:This financing agreement, which further strengthens our collaboration with the EIB, represents a new impetus for our projects in Spain, at a time as important as the present, in which the energy transition must be accelerated and dependence on fossil fuels must be reduced. . » . The financing subscribed with the EIB is online, moreover, “with Iberdrola’s commitment to a sustainable energy model that enables the transition to a low-carbon economy“, according to Galan.
This operation contributes to the EU’s objective of reaching 32% of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption by 2030, as established in the new directive on energy sources Renewables (RES) in the EU, and which the European Commission has recently proposed to increase to 45%. In addition, it promotes the achievement of Spain’s renewable energy targets for 2030 of 42%, established in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) 2021-2030.
As this is a loan that is 100% eligible under climate action/renewable energies (because it is dedicated to onshore wind and solar photovoltaic projects), the operation can be considered a “Green Loan” (Green Loan) from the EIB. It is a type of financing whose characteristics fully comply with the requirements set out in the EIB’s program for Climate Awareness Bonds (Climate Awareness Bonds, CAB). The operation is therefore likely to be allocated to its portfolio of loan operations financed by the issuance of said bonds.