Ignacio Galán: “Commonwealth Wind will power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Massachusetts with clean energy, creating thousands of local jobs across the supply chain. It will also be a key project in helping the U.S. to achieve the 30.000 MW offshore wind target by 2030”. The facility will have 1,232 MW capacity with a long-term power purchase agreement.
Iberdrola, through its subsidiary Avangrid, has been awarded a contract for the electricity supply from Commonwealth Wind offshore windfarm, as part of Massachusetts’ third offshore wind competitive procurement. The 1,232-megawatt (MW) project, New England’s largest offshore wind project to date, will create 11,000 full time equivalent jobs over its lifetime and generate enough energy to power 750,000 homes.
“Commonwealth Wind will power hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Massachusetts with clean energy, creating thousands of local jobs across the supply chain. It will also be a key project in helping the U.S. to achieve the 30.000 MW offshore wind target by 2030” said Ignacio Galán, Chairman and CEO of Iberdrola and Chairman of AVANGRID.
“After having invested $15 billion in 8.000 MW in onshore wind and solar, we are already leading the way in offshore wind energy the U.S. with the construction of Vineyard Wind One and Park City Wind. With 15 years of experience delivering projects across the world, Iberdrola and AVANGRID are working hard to ensure our investments are transformational for the environment and the economy, creating wealth and jobs. Our U.S. offshore wind pipeline alone could deliver over $15 billion of investment in the coming years”.
Commonwealth Wind includes two transformative initiatives that convert former coal-fired power plants into clean energy centers that will serve to anchor offshore wind jobs throughout the state. Massachusetts’ first submarine cable factory, operated by Prysmian, will be located at Brayton Point, Somerset, and a new offshore wind construction terminal will be built in Salem Harbor to serve the Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind projects. Both initiatives will create new permanent jobs across Massachusetts and bring this new sector to life.
Through Commonwealth Wind, the company has committed to invest $15 million in workforce training and supply chain development, based on the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion. It also plans to invest $20 million in education, innovation and environmental initiatives to benefit local communities.
The project awarded today to Iberdrola group also consolidates Iberdrola’s Offshore Wind Control Centre in New Bedford, a state-of-the-art facility that will provide remote control monitoring for the turbines, electrical service platforms and other offshore/onshore assets.
Massachusetts aims to have 4 GW of contracted offshore wind capacity by 2027 and 5.4 GW operational by 2035. The state already has 1.6 GW under development, including 800 MW Vineyard Wind One, the first commercial-scale project that Iberdrola has begun construction in Martha’s Vineyard waters.
Iberdrola consolidates as the leading energy company in the United States
Iberdrola’s history in the United States is a story of growth. In less than two decades, the company’s subsidiary AVANGRID has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and it has become a major clean energy company in the country, present in 25 states. This is due to the significant commitment it made 17 years ago to renewables, with more than 8,000 MW installed capacity. The company manages more than 170,000 kilometres of power lines via eight utilities in New York, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, serving a population of 7 million people, with 3.3 million direct customers.
Iberdrola is one of the three largest wind and solar energy companies in the US and is a leader in offshore wind. It plans to invest more than $30 billion between 2020 and 2025 in transmission and distribution networks, and renewables, which will enable it to almost double its renewable capacity by 2025. These investments are aimed at increasing its presence in the offshore wind and solar sectors, as well as strengthening its leadership in onshore wind.
The company is a pioneer in the development of the US offshore wind market. It recently began developing Vineyard Wind One (800 MW), the first large offshore wind farm in the country.
Through its subsidiary Avangrid, it also owns the Kitty Hawk development area (2,500 MW) in North Carolina, has already started the BOEM permitting process for the Kitty Hawk North project (800 MW), the first project to be developed in this area, and manages other wind farms at an earlier stage of development.
Global benchmark in offshore wind
Iberdrola is a world leader in the development of offshore wind energy, with assets of more than 38,000 MW. Focused on countries with ambitious targets, the company expects to have 18,000 MW of offshore wind energy in operation by 2030 in different markets.
In Europe, Iberdrola is at the forefront of the offshore wind market with 1,300 MW of operational capacity in Germany (Wikinger) and the UK (East Anglia ONE and West of Duddon Sands) and almost 1,000 MW coming soon in Germany (Baltic Eagle) and France (St. Brieuc). In addition to the US, it manages a large portfolio of projects in the UK, France and Germany, as well as in new growth platforms such as Ireland, Sweden and Poland.
In the rest of the world, the company is consolidating new growth platforms in various regions, with a significant project pipeline in Asia (Japan and Taiwan), as well as in other emerging markets, such as Brazil.
In 2020, offshore wind projects contributed €585 million to the Iberdrola group’s EBITDA, after growing by 72%; this contribution will rise to €2.3 billion by 2030.
