Biden visits the Iberdrola facilities in the United States accompanied by Ignacio Galán

The three parks promoted by the group are under construction or advanced development, with an investment of 10,000 million dollars

MADRID, 21 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, accompanied by the Chairman of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, visited one of the facilities that are part of the plan of Iberdrola's listed subsidiary in the country for the construction of offshore wind projects in New England.

The power company will invest 10,000 million dollars in them throughout this decade.

Biden met yesterday with the president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, accompanied by 25 US authorities and businessmen. He has also been accompanied by the national advisor to the president for the climate and former head of the United States Environmental Agency, Gina McCarthy, and several congressmen from Massachusetts.

President Biden wanted to highlight the new energy policy of the United States and his government's support for Iberdrola's investments in North America.

The three offshore wind farms are already under construction or advanced development, and all of them have long-term power sales contracts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They will have a total capacity of 2,800 MW, create almost 11,000 new jobs and supply emission-free energy for almost 1.6 million homes and businesses.

The first of the three parks, Vineyard Wind, will be the first on a large scale in the United States, and will start producing energy at the end of next year, with 800 MW of installed capacity and an investment of 2,500 million euros.

As part of the proposal made in the award of the third of the offshore wind farms, Commonwealth Wind, Iberdrola undertook to promote the first cable manufacturing facility for offshore wind power in Massachusetts on the grounds of an old coal plant in Somerset, Massachusetts (Brayton Point), the one visited by Joe Biden.

The factory, which will create numerous local jobs, is expected to open in early 2026 and supply cables to Iberdrola Commonwealth Wind projects such as Park City Wind.

The 1,232 megawatt (MW) project, New England's largest offshore wind project to date, will involve an investment of $4 billion.

It is also developing in the same area Park City Wind, an 804 MW project that will supply clean energy to Connecticut customers, while revitalizing the Port of Bridgeport, home to the operation and maintenance office and warehouse for the components of facing construction. The project is expected to be completed in 2027.

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, trading since 2015 on the New York Stock Exchange. It has contributed to Iberdrola becoming the most valuable company on the Spanish Stock Exchange with a capitalization of some 61,000 million euros and the leading European energy company.

The firm is present in 25 states and manages more than 9,300 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, of which more than 8,500 MW of renewables (mainly wind and solar photovoltaic), and more than 170,000 kilometers of power lines through 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 represent a stable platform for continued growth over the next few years as the country meets its decarbonization goals.

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 energy, 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 North Carolina and Virginia waters, and has begun the process of obtaining permits from the Federal Office of Marine Energy Management (BOEM) for the park Kitty Hawk North (800 MW), the first project proposed in this area.