* Iberdrola Innovation Middle East Research and Innovation Centre at QSTP is the 'cornerstone' of Iberdrola’s innovation globally, noted Ignacio Galán
Qatar has strong resources for solar energy and Qatar National Vision 2030 provides “encouragement” with targets to increase renewable energy in the generation mix, said Ignacio Galán, chairman and CEO of Iberdrola, world’s top producer of wind power, and one of the biggest global electricity utilities.
“And now green hydrogen is also a major opportunity going forward. We believe that clean energy technologies have a role to play in every country and Qatar is showing that it wants to keep increasing its renewable capacity,” Galán said in an exclusive interview with Gulf Times.
Iberdrola is a global leader in renewable energy, but also invests heavily in power networks and energy storage, he said. This, he noted is because sustainable integrated energy systems require these three building blocks.
“We have invested $130bn globally in these three areas over the last twenty years and this has led us to become the largest utility in Europe and one of the four largest worldwide. In this journey, the support of our largest shareholder - Qatar Investment Authority - and its leadership team has been absolutely essential from HE Ahmad al-Sayed, who was CEO back in 2011, to his successor, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, and of course, to Mansoor bin Ebrahim al-Mahmoud,” Galán told Gulf Times.
Following this global approach, he said: “We invest in different countries in accordance with their resources and energy policy. In Qatar, we started our activities almost two decades ago in the gas business, and in 2010 we built for Kahramaa the Mesaieed power plant, one of the largest in the country at the time.
“We have also collaborated extensively with Kahramaa in the networks business, and in 2018 we opened Iberdrola Innovation Middle East Research and Innovation Centre at Qatar’s Science and Technology Park. Less than two months ago, we signed an agreement with HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry to expand this centre on the occasion of the visit of His Highness the Amir to Madrid.”
Galán noted that this centre is the “cornerstone” of Iberdrola’s innovation globally.
“At our centre in Al Rayyan, together with Qatari institutions, we are creating new ideas for wind and solar energy, smart grids and digital customer solutions that we use globally. I am sure that many of them can be useful for Qatar, given the leadership taken by the country with Qatar’s National vision 2030.”
On what it meant for a company to be a global leader when it comes to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Galán said: “Our ESG strategy has unanimous support from our shareholders. Nearly three-quarters of our capital participated at our 2022 Annual Shareholders Meeting in June, and an overwhelming 99.93% of those registered a positive vote in relation to our governance and sustainability management.”
He noted: “The reason for this is that ESG factors are an integral part of Iberdrola's strategy. In fact, we had a clear focus on environmental, social and governance aspects long before this concept was created. We at Iberdrola believe in social market economy, in the role that all social agents -and of course companies- have to contribute to progress in our societies. In fact, we created the concept of “social dividend” many years ago and included it in our bylaws with the same importance as financial dividend, and we deliver and report on it each year. Our purchases, our job creation, our tax contribution, our emissions reduction… all these aspects are part of our social dividend.”
Now that the focus on ESG has become so universally spread, Galán stressed “we need to make sure we have quality and homogeneous reporting standards across all industries. To be serious about ESG principles, companies need be very clear and transparent on their goals and to report on their delivery.
“In all my 21 years leading Iberdrola we have produced detailed and robust reports on our ESG performance. We have analysed the data to see where improvements can be made, and then we have delivered those improvements. We are now widely recognised for our ESG performance by a host of external indices and analysts.”
“And now green hydrogen is also a major opportunity going forward. We believe that clean energy technologies have a role to play in every country and Qatar is showing that it wants to keep increasing its renewable capacity,” Galán said in an exclusive interview with Gulf Times.
Iberdrola is a global leader in renewable energy, but also invests heavily in power networks and energy storage, he said. This, he noted is because sustainable integrated energy systems require these three building blocks.
“We have invested $130bn globally in these three areas over the last twenty years and this has led us to become the largest utility in Europe and one of the four largest worldwide. In this journey, the support of our largest shareholder - Qatar Investment Authority - and its leadership team has been absolutely essential from HE Ahmad al-Sayed, who was CEO back in 2011, to his successor, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, and of course, to Mansoor bin Ebrahim al-Mahmoud,” Galán told Gulf Times.
Following this global approach, he said: “We invest in different countries in accordance with their resources and energy policy. In Qatar, we started our activities almost two decades ago in the gas business, and in 2010 we built for Kahramaa the Mesaieed power plant, one of the largest in the country at the time.
“We have also collaborated extensively with Kahramaa in the networks business, and in 2018 we opened Iberdrola Innovation Middle East Research and Innovation Centre at Qatar’s Science and Technology Park. Less than two months ago, we signed an agreement with HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry to expand this centre on the occasion of the visit of His Highness the Amir to Madrid.”
Galán noted that this centre is the “cornerstone” of Iberdrola’s innovation globally.
“At our centre in Al Rayyan, together with Qatari institutions, we are creating new ideas for wind and solar energy, smart grids and digital customer solutions that we use globally. I am sure that many of them can be useful for Qatar, given the leadership taken by the country with Qatar’s National vision 2030.”
On what it meant for a company to be a global leader when it comes to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Galán said: “Our ESG strategy has unanimous support from our shareholders. Nearly three-quarters of our capital participated at our 2022 Annual Shareholders Meeting in June, and an overwhelming 99.93% of those registered a positive vote in relation to our governance and sustainability management.”
He noted: “The reason for this is that ESG factors are an integral part of Iberdrola's strategy. In fact, we had a clear focus on environmental, social and governance aspects long before this concept was created. We at Iberdrola believe in social market economy, in the role that all social agents -and of course companies- have to contribute to progress in our societies. In fact, we created the concept of “social dividend” many years ago and included it in our bylaws with the same importance as financial dividend, and we deliver and report on it each year. Our purchases, our job creation, our tax contribution, our emissions reduction… all these aspects are part of our social dividend.”
Now that the focus on ESG has become so universally spread, Galán stressed “we need to make sure we have quality and homogeneous reporting standards across all industries. To be serious about ESG principles, companies need be very clear and transparent on their goals and to report on their delivery.
“In all my 21 years leading Iberdrola we have produced detailed and robust reports on our ESG performance. We have analysed the data to see where improvements can be made, and then we have delivered those improvements. We are now widely recognised for our ESG performance by a host of external indices and analysts.”
