Iberdrola plans to build a new 150-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic plant in the State of Washington (United States), which will be its largest project of its kind in the country.
The energy group, through its subsidiary Avangrid Renewables, has reached an agreement with the State of Washington for the lease of some 48 acres (194 hectares) of state land in Klickitat County, near Bickleton, for the development of the project.
As reported by the Department of Natural Resources (DRN) of the State of Washington, the lease contract with the subsidiary of Iberdrola will cover 40 years and operations are scheduled to begin at the end of 2020.
As part of its update of the 2018-2022 strategic plan, the group plans investments in the country in renewable energies, such as the Vineyard offshore wind farm project in Massachusetts, with commissioning scheduled for 2021-2022.
The project is part of the Washington State program to boost renewable energies, which provides the production of 500 MW of solar energy on public land by 2025.
Currently, Iberdrola has four photovoltaic plants in the United States -Gala (56 MW), San Luis (30 MW), Cooper Crossing (20 MW) and Wy’East Solar (10 MW) -, with a total capacity of 116 MW.
In addition, the subsidiary of the utility will also build the 90 MW Mohawk Solar photovoltaic plant, which will be located in the city of Canajoharie, in the county of Montgomery, about 300 kilometers from the city of New York planned to come into operation at the end of 2020.
Iberdrola´s presence in the United States
In the United States, Iberdrola has a presence in a total of 23 states, also distributing electricity and gas in New York, Maine, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
At the end of 2018 the installed capacity of the group accounted to 7,561 MW in the country, of which more than 6,700 MW were renewable. 86.4% of its production in the country is renewable, according to the Integrated Report that the company has posted on its website in the framework of the general meeting of shareholders on March 29.
As part of its update of the 2018-2022 strategic plan, the group plans investments in the country in renewable energies, such as the Vineyard offshore wind farm project in Massachusetts, with commissioning scheduled for 2021-2022.
In terms of Networks, the construction of the NewEngland Clean Energy Connect (Necec) transport line has begun. The total investment amounts to about 950 million dollars (about 845 million euros) and its start date is planned for 2022.