UK to get biggest proportion of investment in ScottishPower owner’s £51bn plan

The UK will be the top investment destination for ScottishPower’s Spanish owner’s 58 billion euro (£50.6 billion) spending plan that will focus on electricity grids, in a move set to create thousands of jobs.

The company said the UK was in “pole position” to benefit from the sprawling investment programme.

Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest energy companies, is targeting 35% of the total sum to go towards the UK, followed by 30% to the US.

The investment, due to be completed by 2028, will be used mainly for improving transmission and distribution networks in the two nations.

Iberdrola said it will add more than 15,000 people to its workforce over the next three years.

The plan to prioritise electricity networks comes at a time of growing demand for energy, to power things like electric home heating and cars, and data centres amid increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI).

ScottishPower said this needs to be met by a bigger and stronger grid network, needed to connect homes and businesses with the power sources they will rely on in the future.

The company previously set aside £24 billion worth of investment in the UK, including for the building of two major offshore wind farms off the coast of East Anglia, as well as building electricity grids in parts of England, Scotland and Wales.

It has already spent about £7 billion of the total sum.

Chief executive Keith Anderson said: “The scale of today’s announcement cannot be underestimated, we’re investing record sums to deliver the grid that will stand for the next century.

“The UK has always been an important investment destination for Iberdrola, but now it’s in pole position to benefit further.”

“With UK energy demand expected to increase in the next decade, we need a grid that can match that,” he said, adding that the country’s “clear energy ambitions and policy frameworks” means it is well positioned to take advantage of investment.