Iberdrola to Boost U.S. Wind-Energy Investment

By KEITH JOHNSON and RUSSELL GOLD
Iberdrola SA, the Spanish renewable-energy company, said it will spend $2 billion it raised through a bond issue Tuesday to keep growing in the U.S.
The announcement came after Iberdrola met criticism from Republican lawmakers in Congress and conservative commentators over the amount of U.S. government money it is getting under a new federal subsidy program for renewable energy.
When the Energy Department handed out $502 million in cash grants last week, Iberdrola received a majority of the funds -- $294 million -- for five wind-power projects in Oregon, Texas, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. The money was part of the $787 billion federal stimulus bill enacted earlier this year.
"American capital, supported by the government's plans, is being invested in America and creating wealth and jobs in the country, thanks to Iberdrola," Iberdrola's chairman, Ignacio Sanchez Galan, said in a video posted on the company's Web site.
The company already is the second-largest wind-farm operator in the U.S., behind Florida-based FPL Group Inc.'s NextEra Energy; the U.S. is the world's largest market for wind power.
Iberdrola has said it is bullish on the U.S. because the nation has better wind resources than other countries and more government support for renewable energy. According to recent securities filings, the U.S. accounts for 31% of the company's installed wind power, but 42% of its pipeline of future wind farms.
According to a filing with the Spanish stock-market regulatory agency, Iberdrola sold two tranches of bonds this week: a five-year note paying 3.8% interest and a 10-year note paying 5% interest.
Write to Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com and Russell Gold at russell.gold@wsj.com