Spain: Iberdrola receives funding to modernise its electrical grid

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted Iberdrola a loan of 200 million euros for funding investments to modernise and enhance its electricity distribution grid. The agreement was signed in Luxembourg this afternoon by EIB Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez Arza and Iberdrola’s Chairman Ignacio Sánchez Galán.

The EIB loan will support Iberdrola’s 2011 programme of investment in its domestic grid, to include the construction of a large number of electricity distribution systems across all voltage ranges and the installation of digital meters.

The project’s main objective is to expand and improve Iberdrola’s electricity distribution infrastructure in order to improve the security, reliability and efficiency of the electricity supply, adapting it to predicted demand in the coming years, to the benefit of consumers and producers.  The digital meters scheme will also make real-time information on energy use available to consumers, among other advantages.

Funding will be invested in projects all over Spain, with 59% of projects situated in the country’s convergence regions.

The loan agreement signed between the EIB and Iberdrola marks the continuation of long and successful collaboration between the two organisations, dating back to the late 1980s.