Iberdrola and Norges Bank Investment Management in alliance to speed up decarbonisation

IBERDROLA recently put the finishing touches to its alliance with Norway’s sovereign fund, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management.

Iberdrola will hold a majority stake of 51 per cent in an agreement to invest in 1265 MW of new, renewable energy capacity inside Spain, of which 20 per cent will be wind-powered and 80 per cent produced by solar plants.

Both parties have now informed Spain’s National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) that they have complied with all the legal requirements necessary for formalising the agreement.

This will be directed at speeding up decarbonisation in Spain and could be extended to other countries in the future.

The portfolio of assets amounts to approximately €1.2 billion, which Iberdrola will control and manage, providing operational, maintenance and other corporate services.

Meanwhile, both Iberdrola and Norges are already working on further plans to expand their strategic alliance by more than 500 additional MW of renewable energy in the Iberian Peninsula.

Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, has approximately €1.4 trillion of assets currently under management, and holds stakes in more than 9,000 companies. It owns 1.4 per cent of all the world’s listed companies and 2.5 per cent of every listed company in Europe.

The bank is also a principal Iberdrola shareholder, with a stake of more than 3 per cent.

Owing to this relationship, Norges has decided to make its first direct investment in renewable assets in Spain with Iberdrola, the largest electricity company by capitalisation in Europe.