Iberdrola's British subsidiary ScottishPower has outlined plans to invest up to £2bn (€2.3bn) in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019. This is the company's single largest investment amount in a single year and it comes at a time when it updates its investment plans following the sale of its thermal power generation business.
Over the 2018-2022 period, the company will invest £6bn (€7bn) in the UK, of which £2.4bn (40%) will be dedicated to renewable energy power generation activities, £2.5bn (42%) on smarter enhanced power networks and £0.9bn (15%) on innovative services and products. The new investments will also be allocated to new sectors such as electric vehicle (EV) charging, smart grids and energy storage but will continue to focus on connecting new renewable capacities to the British power grid.
ScottishPower plans to develop a 1 GW pipeline of onshore wind projects by 2025 and outlined plans for a 50 MW battery storage project at the Whitelee wind park. This should be the first of a series of storage schemes located at onshore wind assets and other strategic points on the network to ensure the proper integration of intermittent power generation capacity to the power grid.
In 2018, ScottishPower divested 2 GW of thermal power assets in the United Kingdom to the British power generation company Drax Group as part of Iberdrola's €3bn global asset rotation plan and strategy to cut CO2 emissions 30% by 2020 compared to 2007 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. The power plant portfolio includes the 805 MW Damhead Creek CCGT power plant in Kent, the 715 MW Rye House CCGT power plant in Hertfordshire, the 420 MW Shoreham CCGT power plant in Brighton and the 60 MW Blackburn Mill CCGT power plant in Blackburn.