- A quantitative leap and regulatory backing
- Direct impact on local employment and the supply chain
- The major grids market facing the 2030 challenge
Iberdrola is stepping on the accelerator once again in the British market to place Scotland at the core of its growth.
The utility headed by Ignacio Galán is set to pour €20 billion over an eight-year period with a clear objective: upgrading and expanding transmission and distribution grids on Scottish soil.
We are talking about an amount that absorbs no less than 60% of everything the multinational plans to spend in the United Kingdom during these years. To seal the operation, Galán himself met in Edinburgh with Scottish First Minister John Swinney. The meeting yielded a shared message: these lines are indispensable for evacuating new clean energy parks and driving the electrification agenda.
A quantitative leap and regulatory backing
The magnitude of this figure underscores a drastic shift in scale in the group's plans. Whilst Iberdrola had already designated the United Kingdom as one of its primary growth engines with a prior commitment of €20 billion up to 2028 — which includes some €14 billion announced in late 2025 for subsea interconnectors between Scotland, England, and Wales —, this new impetus incorporates an additional €6 billion specifically aimed at consolidating growth in regulated assets.
The British regulatory framework, overseen by the regulator Ofgem, has endorsed this path by approving anticipatory financing for strategic transmission projects such as the Tealing to Kincardine Upgrade Project and the Denny to Wishaw Network Upgrade. Consequently, the group's overarching strategy aligns strongly with regulated businesses, mitigating energy price volatility and targeting grids to account for 55% of the company's operating profit by 2028.
Direct impact on local employment and the supply chain
The investment offensive in Scotland will entail intense job creation and strong dynamism across the local supply chain.
ScottishPower, Iberdrola's British subsidiary, currently has a workforce of around 5,500 professionals in the region and projects incorporating close to 2,000 additional workers over the next two years.
These new roles will focus on high-demand technical areas linked to system digitalisation, such as:
- Engineering, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure.
- Advanced electrical grid operation.
The knock-on effect also directly benefits the Scottish supply chain. Since 2023, the utility's investments have generated purchases worth approximately €3.1 billion from local suppliers, encompassing manufacturers, construction firms, and engineering companies with whom partnerships are already being expanded to guarantee industrial capacity amid rising project volumes.
The major grids market facing the 2030 challenge
With over €40 billion in accumulated assets in the country, a direct workforce of 10,000 employees, and nearly 70,000 jobs sustained through its supply chain, the United Kingdom cements itself as a strategic stronghold for Iberdrola.
The British energy transformation responds to the London Government's goal of achieving a fully clean electricity system by 2030. In this context, Scotland starts with a differential competitive advantage thanks to its enormous potential in onshore and offshore wind — where ScottishPower manages a portfolio of around 12 GW across operational, under-construction, and development projects —, urgently requiring these new grids to evacuate green energy toward the country's major consumption centres.