The owner of Scottish Power will invest £12billion and create 1,000 jobs by expanding its wind and solar farms and upgrading the cables needed to transport power around the country.
Under the four-year investment plan, announced yesterday, Iberdrola said it will spend more in Britain than in Spain, Germany, France and Australia combined, and will be second only to the United States.
About £4.5billion of the cash will be put towards building high-voltage power transmission lines and distribution lines that carry energy from local substations to the home, between now and 2026.
The Times says another £3.8billion will be spent on increasing renewable energy generation, predominantly offshore wind, as well as some onshore projects and solar. At least 1,000 jobs will be created over the next two years in Britain.
A further £1.7billion will be spent by 2028 once final investment decisions are made and construction starts.
Scottish Power operates networks, wind farms and a domestic energy retail business that supplies more than two million households, or 4.6 million gas and electricity customer accounts.
The group plans to add about 1.8 gigawatts in renewable capacity by 2026, around 20 per cent of the total it intends to build globally. At present, Scottish Power operates 3.2GW in wind, solar and battery storage assets, enough to power 2.2 million homes.