Bankinter | Iberdrola has won the lion’s share in the offshore wind auction in the UK, known as Scotwind. The Spanish power company will develop three large scale projects: two of them with floating technology, which they will develop in collaboration with Shell and the third on a fixed structure. The total amount of power awarded to Iberdrola in this auction is 7.000 MW. The areas adjudicated are: Marram Wind, a project with 3.000 MW of floating technology on Scotland’s north east coast, which will be developed jointly with Shell; Campion Wind, a project with 2.000 MW of floating technology on Scotland’s east coast, also with Shell; and MachairWind, 2.000 MW with fixed foundations in waters close to the island of Islay and the west of Scotland. This last development belongs exclusively to Iberdrola. These projects are expected to be operational from 2030. They will supply energy to nearly 8.5 million homes, three times more than there are currently in Scotland. The spare electricity will be channelled to consumers in the rest of the UK. The investments associated with these projects will total 22.5 billion euros. The package allocated to Iberdrola is more than that obtained by BP-EnBW (3.000 MW), Total-Macquarie and RIDG (2.000 MW) or Engie-EdP (1.000 MW).
Analyst team’s view: Iberdrola beats out the rest of the competitors in the biggest offshore auction in the UK. In total it has obtained 7.000 MW out of the 25.000 MW auctioned off and compared with the 3.000 MW allocated to the second bidder. Iberdrola is already present in the UK (thanks to its acquisition of Scottish Power in 2006), which accounts for 16% of group EBITDA. Its Strategic Plan envisages total investments of 75 billion euros in the period 2020-2025. Of that total, 51% is earmarked for its renewables division. As far as offshore wind technology goes, Iberdrola is targeting 12.000 MW in operation in 2030, 7.000 MW of which correspond to these projects in Scotland. Iberdrola currently operates 1.258 MW in offshore wind in the UK and Germany, for an investment of over 5.5 billion euros. It has another 4.100 MW under construction, or with construction assured, in the US, France and Germany. The committed investment is for over 15 billion euros.
