This morning, IBERDROLA Chairman Ignacio Galán met with the group’s professionals in the ninth edition of the pioneering annual meeting with employees.

This time around, Galán wanted to thank the entire IBERDROLA team for their good work in 2010, as well as their clear dedication and commitment to the company.

The meeting, on this occasion held at the Miguel Delibes Cultural Centre in Valladolid, was attended by 400 group staff, but other IBERDROLA employees – over 30,000 in more than 30 countries around the world – were able to join in on the web.

This unprecedented initiative, providing direct contact between the Chairman and company employees, enabled Ignacio Galán to give real-time answers to questions by group employees from countries in which IBERDROLA operates.

Ignacio Galán said this morning: “we are an international, multinational and global group, but we also have a local business vision that gives us enormous strength to bring all our plans to fruition”.

In this vein, the IBERDROLA Chairman noted that “one example of our strength is the company’s progress in the course of this year, which was a resounding success despite enormous difficulties”.

Galán also mentioned sound progress in liberalised market areas, better service quality in Spain, a rates review in both the UK and the US, sound demand in Brazil, and the company’s high-efficiency facilities in Mexico.

The Chairman also referred to consolidation of IBERDROLA RENOVABLES as the sector’s world leader, with an installed capacity of over 12,500 megawatts (MW). Here he mentioned that the renewable energies subsidiary had secured 1,000 million dollars in grants in the United States.

Projects for 2011

During the encounter, Galán also talked of the projects the company will implement in the coming year. One such project is construction of the 800 km high voltage United States-Canada connection and development of an intelligent network for 620,000 users in the state of Maine.

As for the UK, the Chairman mentioned the future extension to the Whitelee wind farm in Scotland, whose installed capacity of over 500 MW makes it Europe’s largest.

In Spain, the company will continue to work on major projects such as the extension to the hydroelectric power plant at La Muela (Valencia). Its installed capacity of over 2,000 MW will make it the continent’s largest pumping complex. Ignacio Galán also talked of major hydroelectric development in Portugal with construction of the Upper Támega complex, in excess of 1,000 MW, and several other plants in Brazil.  

The IBERDROLA chairman said: “all this activity will enable us to continue to grow sustainably as we have done in the past, and take on the future in all confidence and security”.

He ended his speech to IBERDROLA’s employees by saying: “we are entering a new age in which, more than ever before, we need a strong, cohesive, committed and proactive team, to provide a response to the new requirements of the 21st century in which we live”.