ScottishPower owner Iberdrola, the largest electricity company in Europe, announced plans to more than double its UK investments to as much as £24bn, ahead of the International Investment Summit in London.
The group said that with Britain’s electricity grid needing the “biggest rewiring ever seen” it plans to direct two thirds of this figure at building new transmission and distribution networks.
Keith Anderson, the ScottishPower chief executive, who will meet Sir Keir Starmer in Edinburgh today, said the decision was motivated by the Government’s approach to net zero projects.
The Energy Secretary’s tough approach to planning after approving a series of controversial solar projects is “what we want to see as an investor”, he said.
ScottishPower supplies energy to 4.4 million homes and businesses, builds onshore and offshore wind farms and runs vast tracts of the power grid across Scotland and parts of England and Wales.
Mr Anderson told the BBC Radio that in time energy bills will drop as a result of decarbonising the electricity grid. “We’re shifting away from volatile fossil fuels. We’re moving away from a gas market. We’re going to electrify the whole of the UK economy to provide much more stability, much more certainty.
“Investing in new wind farms, onshore and offshore, is the cleanest, cheapest way to build electricity generation in this country, allow the economy to grow and it will, over the medium to long term, bring down bills.”
The Spanish group said it has invested £30bn in the UK over the last 15 years, and after the recent acquisition of Electricity North West (ENW), said the UK had now become its largest investment destination to 2026.
Investments will include a new subsea superhighway power cable between Torness in Scotland and Hawthorn Pit in England which allow large amounts of power generated by wind farms to be transmitted over long distances before being fed into the electrical grid to power homes and businesses.
It said it also planned to bring into service the East Anglia 3 offshore wind farm, currently under construction, as well as East Anglia 2, a £4bn offshore windfarm recently awarded a contract in a recent government auction and which is designed to provide enough green energy to power the equivalent of 1 million homes, Iberdrola said.
It said it would also continue to invest in new onshore wind, solar and battery projects.
The UK is depending heavily on private sector investment to hit its net zero energy target after Labour abandoned its commitment to spend £28bn a year to decarbonise the energy system while making it less reliant on Russian energy.
“Iberdrola executive chairman and ScottishPower chairman Ignacio Galán will also join Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland today as the Prime Minister convenes the first Council of Nations and Regions, bringing together First Ministers, Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister and regional mayors from across England with the aim of boosting growth and living standards in every part of the UK.”
Mr Galán said: “After having invested more than £30bn in the last 15 years, the clear policy direction, stable regulatory frameworks and overall attractiveness of the UK are leading us to double our investments for 2024-28, reaching up to £24bn.
“This is a vote of confidence in the UK’s clear and stable policies and is a major boost to the economy and the path towards green energy security and net zero. The benefits of electrification in terms of energy security, industrial development, jobs and decarbonisation are shared ambitions of the UK and Iberdrola.”
Ana Musat of RenewableUK, welcomed the news saying: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the UK’s energy market and in the new Government’s clear commitment to the energy transition in its clean power mission, which will include key reforms to the planning system to enable vital new energy infrastructure to be built faster.
“It shows that the UK is one of the most attractive destinations for international investment which will be instrumental in securing tens of thousands of new jobs in Britain’s world-class clean energy sector. The Government’s International Investment Summit in London also demonstrates the scale of the UK’s ambition to boost our position as a global leader in green growth.
“To continue securing investment, it is essential that the Government ensures the business environment remains as attractive as possible, and that the reforms needed to accelerate the energy transition are not detrimental to investor confidence.”
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