The chairman of Spanish power utility Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, on Wednesday lashed out at the government’s energy policy and announced that his company “will make a testimonial reduction in its investments in Spain in the period 2014-2013” and not invest any more in developing its domestic renewables business, at least until 2016.
Galán said during the three-year period Iberdrola plans to invest 9.6 billion euros, but will concentrate its efforts on Britain, the United States, Mexico and Brazil. Investment in Spain will be reduced to 15 percent of the total. “Iberdrola feels more British, Mexican and American than Spanish,” he said.
Galán made his remarks at a presentation of Iberdrola’s annual financial results for 2013 in London. The company’s net profit declined 7 percent from a year earlier to 2.572 billion euros and calculated the negative impact on pretax earnings owing to regulatory changes made by the government at 801 million euros. It expects a further impact of 1.3 billion euros this year.