US electricity industry representatives meet at the White House to discuss the Biden Administration’s flagship Build Back Better programme.
Iberdrola once again demonstrates its commitment to the United States. This Wednesday, the company took part in a high-level meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, and was the only European company invited to the meeting.
During the meeting, which was also attended by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House climate advisor Gina McCarthy, priorities for the electricity infrastructure investment programme were discussed.
The meeting focused on tax credits for clean energy and the long-term benefits they will bring to consumers, as well as the need to build new transmission and storage infrastructure to strengthen the system, exponentially increase the share of clean energy in the generation mix and support the deployment of electrification in transport and other sectors of the economy.
A meeting was also held with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and National Cybersecurity Director Chris Inglis on increasing collaboration between the Administration and the private sector to address cybersecurity threats to power grids and facilities, strategic assets of the economy as well as making it more resilient in response to severe weather events that require significant demand peaks.
President Biden has made it clear that building modern, climate-resilient infrastructure is key to his economic plan and a clean energy future, and that companies like Iberdrola will play a key role in building a sustainable future and creating more jobs.
The meeting comes at a time when progress is being made on a new version of the so-called Build Back Better Act, with $550 billion in energy and climate spending. This includes more than $300 billion in new tax credits for wind and solar energy, among other technologies.
Iberdrola: 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 chaired by Ignacio Galán has not only managed to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but also to position itself as one of the largest electricity groups in the country, present in 25 states. This is due to the significant commitment it made 17 years ago to clean energy in the country, where it has already installed more than 8,000 MW, has more than 170,000 kilometres of power lines and manages eight utilities in New York, Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts, serving a population of almost 10 million people.
Iberdrola is one of the three largest renewables companies in the country, mainly with its new offshore wind projects, where it is a benchmark with a portfolio of 4,900 MW. In the US, it will invest more than 30 billion dollars in the period 2020-2025 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 photovoltaic sectors, as well as strengthening its leadership in onshore wind.
The company has been a pioneer in the development of the US offshore wind market, with investments of more than $10 billion in its three existing wind farms alone. It recently started construction of Vineyard Wind One (800 MW), the country’s first large offshore wind farm. In December, Avangrid was awarded a contract for the Commonwealth Wind offshore wind farm in Massachusetts. The 1,232-megawatt (MW) project, New England’s largest offshore wind project to date, will involve a $4 billion investment and create 11,000 jobs.
The company 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 farms at an earlier stage of development.
