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Iberdrola is making progress with innovations in renewables with the objective of optimising energy use and promoting efficient integration of renewable energies in the electricity network. The energy company has installed the first battery in a photovoltaic facility in Spain, the Arañuelo III (40 MW) solar farm, currently under construction in the town of Romangordo (Cáceres, Extremadura). The project has a 3 MW battery and 9 Mwh of storage capacity. Ingeteam is the company hired for its development.

In Spain, as well as Arañuelo III, it is carrying out the Puertollano project (Ciudad Real), currently the first and largest green hydrogen plant in Europe, powered by a 100 MW photovoltaic facility that includes Li-ion batteries with 20 MWh of storage capacity.

On the Elgea-Urkilla (32 MW) wind farm in Álava, Basque Country, the battery has an installed power of 5 MW and 5 MWh of storage capacity and will be the first installed in a wind farm in Spain. There are plans to build another at the ST Abadiano in Biscayne, Basque country, with 6 MW, which will also be built by Ingeteam.

In the Canary Islands, Iberdrola will install batteries on the Ifara and El Vallito wind farms in Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, with a 12 MW storage system.

The company is building or has permission to build 200 MW of battery power, some of which has already been installed, which will increase to 300 MW by 2025, mainly in UK markets and Australia. The company's current battery storage project portfolio has already reached 900 MW.

A key component of the energy transition

Storage systems are key to addressing the challenges of the energy transition and are set to become an essential element in the electrical system of the future. This is because they allow the quality of the electricity supply to be improved, ensuring the stability and reliability of the network and integrating and harnessing the energy generated by renewable sources.

The company is still firmly committed to storage with pumping technology, with a leading position and more than 4,000 MW installed in projects like Cortes-La Muela (Valencia) - the largest facility of its kind in Europe - and Tâmega, under construction in Portugal.

In November 2019, Iberdrola commissioned the first energy storage system with Li-ion batteries for distribution networks in Spain. The project, which is the first in the country, is located in the Murcian municipal district of Caravaca de la Cruz, will improve the quality of the energy supply in the surrounding area, as well as the use of solar energy generated in the area.

Iberdrola is certain that the energy transition can be a driving force in the transformation of the industrial sector and for a green recovery in the economy and the job market. To achieve this, the company has launched an unprecedented investment plan worth €75 bn for the 2020-2025 period, which will be €150 bn by 2030, with the aim of doubling its renewable capacity and taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the energy revolution facing the world's main economies.

Investments in Spain for the period amount to around €14.3 billion, half of which will be spent on developing renewable energy projects, while more than 4.5 billion will go towards strengthening and digitalising its electricity grids.