Iberdrola Head: Renewables Key to Energy Mix Overhaul

Changes in energy mix are necessary to enable development and integration of mature renewables and meet both a projected 40% increase in the demand for energy until 2040, and the commitments derived from the Climate Summit in Paris, Ignacio Galán, Chairman of Iberdrola, said today during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The transformation of the energy mix will be spearheaded, among others, by offshore and onshore wind power development, Galán said during a panel discussion titled ”The Transformation of Energy,” held in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

Galán also said that technologies which are mature enough to enable mass-scale solutions at a reasonable cost are the ones which will undergo the most significant development in the years to come.

These include offshore and onshore wind power, Galán said, as well as hydroelectric energy.

“The more significant contribution by these technologies will require increasing the absorption capacity of the system,” Galán said.

”If this is to be achieved, we will have to invest in networks, back-up capacity, mostly combined cycle power plants, and energy storage systems, in particular, pumped storage power plants.”