On 16 January, Norges Bank Investment Management, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s investment management arm, signed a strategic agreement with Spanish electric utility company Iberdrola to acquire a 49% stake in its solar plant and onshore wind farm portfolio in our country, with a total capacity of 1.3 gigawatts. The transaction is expected to be closed during the current quarter.

The price agreed values Iberdrola’s Spanish renewable portfolio at over 1.2 billion euros. The Norwegian company will not be looking to external financing to complete the transaction. The power company will continue as joint owner, holding the remaining 51% of the shares and managing the portfolio.

Portfolio under development
The portfolio comprises seven solar PV energy plants, which represent 80% of the assets, with five onshore wind projects accounting for the remaining 20%. Together, they have a total installed capacity of 1,265 megawatts, equivalent to the electricity required to meet the annual demand of around 700,000 Spanish households.

Of all the projects included in the portfolio, nine are currently under development and are expected to be up and running between 2023 and 2025. According to Iberdrola, the portfolio already has 137 megawatts in operation between Castilla-La Mancha and Aragón. It has 358 megawatts under development in Andalusia, 343 in Extremadura, 175 in Aragón, 102 in Castilla y León, 55 in Madrid, 50 in Murcia and 45 in Castilla-La Mancha.

Major shareholder
The Spanish company says that Norges Bank Investment Management is one of its key shareholders, having held a stake of more than 3% for over seven years. Iberdrola considers that the decision to invest directly in its renewable assets in Spain through this strategic agreement is due to this long-standing relationship.

Norges Bank manages the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which has investments in over 9,000 companies in seventy countries, including Apple, Nestlé, Microsoft and Samsung. Its investments, which exceed one trillion euros, are divided between shares, bonds, property and renewable energy infrastructure.

^{Photo: Iberdrola}