Ignacio Galán, Chairman and CEO of Iberdrola and Chairman of AVANGRID, joined President Joe Biden in support of his actions to advance the U.S. offshore wind industry and promote climate resilience while also creating jobs and lowering energy costs for families. The event was held at Brayton Point in Somerset –a former 1,600-Megawatt (MW) coal plant that will be transformed into a subsea cable manufacturing facility that was catalyzed by AVANGRID’s 1,232 MW Commonwealth Wind project.
Other federal officials that joined President Biden at this event included White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Senator Edward Markey (MA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Representative Jake Auchincloss (MA-04), and Representative Bill Keating (MA-09).
“As a company truly committed to building a cleaner, more sustainable energy future, we support the Administration’s action to advance the U.S. offshore wind industry and build climate resilient communities, taking crucial steps to tackle the urgent crisis of climate change,” said Ignacio Galán. “The investment we are making in our three advanced offshore wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts alone will exceed $10 billion. AVANGRID and the entire Iberdrola Group stand with the United States in its effort to build a clean energy future, and strong actions like the measures announced by President Biden today are essential to advance the energy transition.”
During the event, President Biden outlined a series of actions to advance the U.S. offshore wind industry and promote climate resilience while also creating jobs and lowering energy costs for families. The President emphasized the importance of offshore wind, including AVANGRID’s joint venture Vineyard Wind 1 project, as critical to meeting the United States’ climate goals, and highlighted the role of American utility companies, like AVANGRID, in advancing the innovation and grid modernization needed to support the clean energy economy of the future.
Iberdrola and AVANGRID are well positioned to support the Administration’s efforts to take on global climate change and, true to its Environmental, Social, Governance and Financial (ESG+F) principles, is taking real steps to help the U.S. meet its clean energy goals, including the Biden Administration’s target of deploying 30 Gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, while also stimulating economic growth through bold investments in clean energy.
AVANGRID is the third largest onshore renewable operator in the U.S. with a portfolio of 8.4 Gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar installed capacity and a 23 GW pipeline of new projects. The company also committed to being carbon neutral by 2035, being the first US utility to set a goal for neutrality.
In February 2022, AVANGRID and Prysmian Group made a historic announcement that Prysmian Group will transform the former 1,600 MW coal-fired power plant, a site with an ideal waterfront location and large acreage, into a state-of-the-art factory to build specialized transmission cables for the growing offshore wind industry in the U.S. and globally.