IGNACIO GALÁN
UTILITIES
The capacity that made it possible Spain’ s resilience to the crisis was a long time in the making, built over years rather than weeks or months. Since 2019, the country has doubled its wind and solar capacity, adding more than 40GW to its grid. That is more than any other EU member state except Germany, whose power market and population is roughly twice the size of Spain’ s.
Coal, which once supplied a quarter of Spain’ s electricity, has been effectively eliminated from the picture.
The country’ s reliance on oil and gas has also plummeted as its portfolio of renewables grows. In fact, Ember’ s research reveals that the influence of fossil fuels on Spain’ s electricity prices has dropped by 75 % since 2019.
What’ s more, Chris says that this has nothing to do with Spain’ s sunny climate being more optimal for solar generation than its neighbours.
“ You don’ t need Spanish sunshine to achieve what Spain has done – every country in Europe could be making better use of its own wind and solar resources to reduce reliance on expensive gas,” he explains. Iberdrola is one of the main players in Spain’ s electrification journey and its Executive Chairman, Ignacio Galán, is a huge advocate for a fast and radical energy transition.
“ We need to accelerate the expansion of electrification through renewables to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels,” he says.“ Tripling renewables by 2030 is feasible and will mobilise investments of US $ 2.4tn a year.”
IGNACIO GALÁN
TITLE: EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN COMPANY: IBERDROLA INDUSTRY: ENERGY LOCATION: BILBAO, SPAIN
Ignacio joined Iberdrola in 2001 as Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, and became Executive Chairman in 2006. Under his leadership, the company has become a world leader in sustainability.
56 August 2026