IBERDROLA RAISES ELECTRICITY OUTPUT BY 15 4% IN THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2010 THANKS TO ITS INVESTMENTS IN CLEAN TECHNOLOGIES
Power plants in Spain generate 28% more electricity- Hydroelectric plants generated 135% more and contributed 20.8% of the company’s total electricity output, while renewables generated 26.2% more and accounted for 16% of the total
- Some 83.3% of IBERDROLA’s total output was CO2-free in Spain, where its has reduced the grams of CO2 per kWh generated by 47%
- Installed capacity rose to over 43,725 MW, driven in particular by expansion abroad, notably in the US, where IBERDROLA now has 4,776 MW
The IBERDROLA group generated 42.45 billion kWh of electricity in the first quarter this year, according to preliminary data. This figure represents an increase of 15.4% on the same period in 2009.
This significant increase in output, achieved against a backdrop of a slight recovery in demand (+3.4%), is the result of a greater contribution by clean generation technologies, in line with the company’s current strategy.
In particular, the growth in hydroelectric output was especially noteworthy in the period, with a 135.1% increase to 8.84 billion kWh, accounting for 20.8% of all the power generated by the group to March.
Output from renewable energy sources also continued to rise in both absolute terms, with a 26.2% increase to 6.81 billion kWh, and as a percentage of total output, representing 16%. Meanwhile, 38.8% more electricity was generated through cogeneration to 2.02 billion kWh, representing nearly 5% of the group’s total output.
IBERDROLA’s combined cycle plants around the world generated 14.67 billion kWh in the first three months of the year, which was 4.8% below that registered in the same period of the previous year. Nonetheless, this technology continued to make the greatest contribution to the group’s total output, with a 34.6% share.
In turn, nuclear power plants generated 5.4% more electricity, reaching 6.29 billion kWh (14.8% of total output), while output from thermal power plants was down 21.2% at 3.79 billion kWh, accounting for 8.9% of total output. With an output of 39 million kWh, fuel-oil fired thermal plants accounted for a negligible percentage of the group’s total output.
83.3% of output in Spain emission-freeAtmospheric emissions at group level fell over the period by 21.4% to 231 grams of CO2 per kWh, while in Spain they fell by 47%, from 147 grams to 78 grams of CO2 per kWh.
In addition, nearly 52% of IBERDROLA’s total output was CO2-free, compared to the national average for Spain of 83.3%, thanks to the company’s commitment to clean generation technologies.
In Spain, where demand was up by 5.2% on 2009, the company’s output reached 21.72 billion kWh (+28%), with a considerable contribution from large hydroelectric power plants (+157.6% to at 8.07 billion kWh) and renewable energies (+35.2% to 3.74 billion kWh). Nuclear power plants generated 6.29 billion kWh, while combined cycle gas-fired power plants registered an output of 2.75 billion kWh.
On the other hand, international expansion of the company’s business in recent years has led to foreign power plants contributing approximately half of total energy generated during the period.
Specifically, IBERDROLA’s international generation from January to March 2010 amounted to 20.73 billion kWh: 9.53 billion kWh in Latin America, 7.48 billion kWh in the UK, 3.10 billion in the US, and 611 million kWh elsewhere.
IBERDROLA continued to diversify and build up its generation assets throughout the world in the early months of 2010, with installed capacity rising to 43,728 MW at the end of March 2010 from 43,669 MW a year earlier.
By technology, combined cycle power plants accounted for 30.1% of total capacity; hydroelectric, 22.5%; renewable energies, 25.8% –exceeding a 25% share for the first time-; thermal power, 10.8%, nuclear, 7.6%; cogeneration, 2.8%; and fuel-oil, 0.4%.
The company experienced significant growth in its installed capacity abroad, which comprised 6,838 MW in the UK, 4,776 MW in the US, 5,555 MW in Latin America and another 1,099 MW throughout the rest of the world. In Spain, IBERDROLA ended the first quarter with 25,460 MW of installed capacity.
IBERDROLA is committed to growing in the core energy business through the use of environmentally-friendly power plants, a commitment that has positioned it as a key player in the fight against climate change. Its dedication to this fight will continue in the coming years as it brings on stream more renewable energy facilities and hydroelectric plants capable of meeting peak demands both in Spain and abroad.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
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