The Chairman of IBERDROLA, Ignacio Galán, took part today in the Business Summit held parallel to the G-20 Summit in Seoul, highlighting that the sector is facing a thorough overhaul at international level, due to the need to meet the fundamental challenges of security of supply, environmental sustainability and competitiveness.

Ignacio Galán participated in the second session, as part of the round table discussion on renewable energies and sustainability, called ‘Green Growth: Green Jobs’ and chaired by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, along with other business leaders from the foremost international companies.

The Chairman of IBERDROLA explained that security of supply will become a crucial issue both in emerging countries, where demand is growing sharply,  such as China and India, and in the European Union, which has to reduce its energy dependency.

He also spoke of the importance of environmental sustainability, under threat from the current economic growth model, which is emissions-intensive and ultimately unsustainable.  Finally, he highlighted the importance of competitiveness in enabling the major investments that the sector has to make in order to guarantee an energy supply that is safe and of high quality.

In his opinion, this scenario calls for a change in the power generation mix, with coal power plants being replaced by wind, nuclear, hydroelectric and gas-fired energies.

Mr. Galán believes it will be indispensable to invest in conventional new generation and to further the development of renewable energy sources, by reinforcing mature technologies such as those that are used in wind energy, deploying new networks and increasing interconnections.  

Ignacio Galán highlighted that IBERDROLA is already at the helm of the technological change looming in the energy sector, combining investments in mature technologies and an ongoing commitment to innovation.  In his opinion, this enables the company to leverage the competitive advantages that the Group already enjoys - a balanced and clean power generation mix and extensive experience in grid management – and at the same time, positions IBERDROLA as the leader in the technologies of the future. 

The Group's Chairman reminded those in attendance that IBERDROLA is now one of the top six utilities in the world and that it has undergone significant and solid growth in the last ten years, thanks to the process of internationalisation and its pioneering commitment to clean energies. IBERDROLA has become a global company, with a strong international presence and operations in 40 countries on four different continents.  The Group also includes IBERDROLA RENOVABLES, world leader in wind energy.