Iberdrola will invest 200 million in smart grids in the Basque Country in the 2022-2024 triennium, with which it estimates the generation of up to 2,500 jobs in the territory, as reported by the company after the meeting of the management team and the Delegated Executive Committee, held in Bilbao.
The president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Galán, confirmed the relevance of smart grids in promoting the energy transition and his intention to accelerate their development in the Basque Country. For this reason, he insisted on the need to increase these investments from 200 million to 300 million euros in the period, in order to achieve the objectives of the roadmap of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC).
Galán also pointed to the investments of the last year and a half, which have risen to 144 million euros -of these, 82 million in Bizkaia-, 50% more than those made in the three-year period 2017-2019.
Infrastructure renovation
The investments of i-DE -Iberdrola’s distributor- between 2020 and July 2021 have been aimed at the renovation of existing infrastructures that, through the digitization and automation of the grid, has facilitated the incorporation of renewable energies into the electricity system and They have enabled an agile and effective response to energy needs in times of pandemic, also contributing to the development of the value chain and employment in the Basque Country.
As a result of this investment effort, the quality of supply to its customers in the Basque Country reached 99.9%, as reflected in the TIEPI index, which stood at 54 minutes in 2020.
Investments in distribution networks, Galán pointed out, support an industrial value chain with 90% local suppliers, many of them SMEs, in areas such as the manufacture of capital goods, engineering, assembly companies, civil works, logistics, raw materials suppliers, etc. The Chairman of Iberdrola has also detailed Iberdrola’s network investment plan in the Basque Country for the triennium 2022-2024, which amounts to more than 200 million euros, with which the company estimates to generate up to 2,500 jobs in the territory.
Smart meters
In the Basque Country, i-DE manages more than 18,400 km of low and medium voltage lines and more than 4,400 km of high and very high voltage lines. It also has 11,248 digitized transformation centers, 3,589 new automated centers and remote control elements and 1.3 million smart meters in service.
Along these lines, Iberdrola is finishing in Bilbao, in Larraskitu, its Global Smart Grids Innovation Hub (GSGIH), an avant-garde and open innovation center that will define the smart grids of the future. The center was born with the aim of becoming a reference in terms of innovation applied to networks and will act as a driving platform for R & D & I and local and international talent, combining the company’s technological capacity with that of global strategic partners and a wide collaborative ecosystem of suppliers, universities and startups worldwide.
The company has already identified and is working on more than 120 projects worth 110 million euros and has reached agreements with 30 technological partners for the development of solutions for the digitalization of the network, integration of renewables, deployment of the electric vehicle and energy systems. Energy storage.
Projects with institutions
The Provincial Council of Bizkaia collaborates in this initiative, which is also connected with the Biscay Startup Bay strategy, since it will also become a scale-up place for startups in the energy sector that are installed in the Bizkaia Tower.
Iberdrola is also involved in the project led by the Bilbao City Council to make the island of Zorrotzaurre a smart, zero-emissions district. With an investment of 20 million euros, the company plans to develop and manage the district’s smart grids and will provide smart solutions for electric mobility, self-consumption, storage and air conditioning, as well as monitoring tools to private and industrial customers.
