Iberdrola signs its largest green loan worth €1 B with Banco Santander

Spanish electric utility Iberdrola has signed its largest green loan with Banco Santander for an amount of €1 billion, which in turn is backed by an Export Credit Agency (ECA), said the company.

The loan has a maximum term of 15 years.The funds will be used mainly to finance Iberdrola’s orders to suppliers of turbines for offshore and onshore wind farms for Iberdrola’s projects in Spain, Poland, Greece, Germany and the UK.

Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) exclusively manage credit and investment insurance on behalf of States, covering political, commercial and extraordinary risks associated with internationalisation. The guarantee mechanism for the green loan will be provided by the Export Credit Agency, while the funds for the operation will come from Banco Santander.

“With this new loan, Iberdrola continues to consolidate its leadership in ESG financing, with more than €41 billion in signed operations, of which more than €23 billion correspond to green financing and around €18 billion to credit lines, loans or commercial paper programmes subject to compliance with sustainability objectives,” said the company.

The projects to which the resources obtained from these placements are allocated are aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, on which Iberdrola focuses its efforts: number 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy – and number 13 – Climate Action.

Iberdrola has more than 30,000 MW of operational capacity in the pipeline and in early-stage developments. The company expects to have 12,000 MW of offshore wind energy in operation by 2030 and cumulative investments of over €30 billion worldwide.

During 2021, offshore wind energy has established itself as one of the company’s major growth vectors, claims the firm. At year-end, Iberdrola had 1,260 MW offshore in operation, 1,800 MW under construction and 5,400 MW in advanced development, which will come into operation before 2027. The company has a portfolio of projects in the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and Brazil.

Banco Santander is a major player in renewable energy financing, with a mobilised volume of €65.7 billion between 2019 and 2021. At the end of the last financial year, Santander was the world’s leading bank in renewable energy project finance, said Iberdrola.