Iberdrola creating over 100 high-end Glasgow jobs

 

© The Herald Originally published: 25/2/2010

More than 100 new high-end engineering jobs are poised to be created in Glasgow under plans by ScottishPower’s Spanish owner Iberdrola to move a key division to the city this year.

Iberdrola Engineering and Construction is being shifted to Scotland from Spain during 2010, the company confirmed yesterday, with Glasgow the favoured location.

It is projected by the company that the unit will have 250 highly trained engineers. Some engineers will be transferred from existing roles in Scotland although more than half of the posts will be new, The Herald understands.

The unit will work on the design of high voltage network projects, notably on connecting planned offshore wind farms.

Its remit will include the carbon capture and storage project being pursued at Longannet, Fife, as well as a new gas-powered plant at Cockenzie.

The team will also have a role in planning a new nuclear power plant at Sellafield, Cumbria.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “I am delighted that Iberdrola has announced plans for a new base that will deliver 250 quality jobs to Glasgow.

“Scottish Government officials in Scottish Development International and Scottish Enterprise engaged with the company in the early stages of this project.”

Iberdrola pledged to invest €4.5bn (£4bn) in the UK over the coming three years.

Much will be targeted at the creation of several large windfarms off the UK coast, Iberdrola’s first offshore fields here.

It has received permission to created a 500MW windfarm at West of Duddon Sands in the Irish Sea with construction expected to begin in 2012.

Iberdrola has also been awarded an offshore development off Norfolk, which has the potential to generate as much as 7,200MW.

Further jobs could be created as Iberdrola seeks to persuade turbine manufacturer Gamesa, in which it has a minority stake, to set up in the UK.

Iberdrola chief executive Ignacio Galan said it had already opened up in the US where Iberdrola has several wind farm projects.

“We are trying to do the same thing here,” he said. “We are pushing as much as we can.”

Gamesa and German company Bard last week confirmed they are working on a joint venture for offshore turbines.

Iberdrola yesterday announced a net profit of €2.8bn for 2009, down 1.3% on the previous year. It was hit hard by deep recession in its home market of Spain.

It is targeting 5% to 9% annual growth for the next three years, Galan added.

ScottishPower, the last Glasgow-registered company in the FTSE 100 until its takeover by Iberdrola in 2007, saw its earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortisation rise 7.9% to £1.3bn.

It cut 8% from costs in sterling terms over the period.

David Hunter, energy analyst at McKinnon & Clarke, said these profits were “indefensible”.

“Despite wholesale prices going into freefall, ScottishPower hasn’t cut domestic standard tariffs in almost a year,” he said.

Iberdrola is exploring the building of a new nuclear power plant next to an existing facility at Sellafield, in a joint venture with France’s GDF Suez and Perth-based Scottish & Southern Energy. A decision will be made in 2015 and it could be operating by 2020.

Galan professed to be relaxed about the SNP-led Scottish Government’s prohibition on new nuclear power plants north of the border.

He said that the facilities being built by it and other companies in England “is more than enough to meet the needs (of the UK) without building more in Scotland”.