IBERDROLA Ingeniería y Construcción will increase expenditure on research, development and innovation (RDI) by 30% this year to €8.3 million. The company will undertake 20 new projects in 2009, covering all areas of its business, especially those with a high technological component. 

The initiatives include developing capabilities in carbon capture, advanced nuclear, combined-cycle, marine power and solar thermal plants; streamlining power grid management; and enhancing the efficiency of the overall business as well as of environmental and operational management.

The new RDI projects were approved recently by IBERDROLA Ingeniería’s Technological Development and Innovation Committee and come on top of another 20 projects already underway. In all, the 40 projects are aimed at driving the development of all the company’s business lines, increasing the quality and efficiency in project execution and providing the necessary management and engineering tools.

The Technological Development and Innovation Committee is chaired by Alberto Sicre, CEO of the subsidiary. Other members include the Operations, Technical, and Environment and Quality corporate heads, and the Generation, Nuclear and Networks/Renewables business managers, along with the IBERDROLA group’s Innovation manager. The committee’s mission is to spearhead technological development in areas relevant to the company and plan activities and projects that drive this development.

The new projects recently approved target the development of technological capabilities and mainly include:

• further research into third-generation nuclear-plant technology and related construction methods;
• RDI in marine generation, both wind and other sources such as tidal and wave;
• research on thermal exchange systems at solar thermal plants;
• RDI on oil and gas engineering capabilities, combined-cycle plant gasification and CO2 processing;
• optimisation of the environmental data processing method and forecasting based on this method;
• various initiatives aimed at enhancing power grid management, involving both design and monitoring;
• process efficiency improvement in both overall management of the business and in the construction and operating stages.   

By carrying out these 40 RDI projects, IBERDROLA Ingeniería y Construcción reaffirms its commitment to technological innovation in project execution in the 25 countries where it operates. Innovation has been -and still is- the company’s defining trait in all its energy engineering work in distribution networks, power generation, nuclear power and renewable energies. 

Over the past few years, IBERDROLA Ingeniería y Construcción has emerged as one of the world's leading energy engineering companies and become the group’s technology cornerstone, putting it at the forefront of innovation in the international energy sector.

Created in 1995 to group together and strengthen IBERDROLA's engineering and construction activities, the company has seen enormous changes over the last five years with the implementation of a new strategic plan aimed at expanding internationally and winning contracts from companies other than the IBERDROLA parent. Its workforce has soared by 250% to 2,500, output has increased 4.5 times, the company's project pipeline has quadrupled and its current EBITDA is 3.2 times greater than when it was set up.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This communication does not constitute an offer of purchase, sale or exchange or a request for an offer of purchase, sale or exchange of values. The shares of Iberdrola S.A. cannot be offered or sold in the United States, except if this is carried out through a declaration of effective notification of what is laid out in the Securities Act or under the protection of a valid exemption of the need for notification.