Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola has agreed to acquire Sowitec Vietnam, which has a 550MW project pipeline comprising five onshore wind farms and a 50MW floating photovoltaic facility. Vietnam has a target to install more than 20,000MW of renewable energy by 2030, and so is an important new market for Iberdrola, which already has growth strategies in Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Sowitec Vietnam is part of Germany's Sowitec Group, which has a presence in 14 countries, and has been involved in more than 6,000MW of renewable projects.

The projects are scheduled to be developed between 2022 and 2024. Vietnam is an attractive market with strong economic growth and rising electricity demand. It also has a free trade and foreign investment protection agreement with the European Union, which was signed in 2020.

Iberdrola wants to build on its renewable energy leadership in Europe and America, with an increased presence in the Asia-Pacific region, to realize its goal of becoming the world's largest renewable energy company.

In Australia, Iberdrola has become a key developer of renewable energy, following its acquisition in 2020 of Infigen Energy, now rebranded as Iberdrola Australia. It currently operates more than 800MW of wind, solar, and battery storage, has more than 450MW under construction, and manages a 1,000MW pipeline in different stages of development.

Iberdrola entered the Japanese market last year through the acquisition of local developer Acacia Renewables, which has a 3,300MW offshore wind pipeline in the south of the country.

Renamed Iberdrola Japan, the company is working on two offshore wind farms, with a combined capacity of 1,200MW, which could be operational in 2028. Additionally, it has four other projects at an early stage of development, totalling 2,100MW. These six projects will be developed jointly by Iberdrola and Macquarie's Green Investment Group (GIG).

Iberdrola's presence in the region was recently reinforced with an additional agreement with Cosmo Eco Power, a Japanese renewables subsidiary of Cosmo Energy Holdings, for the development of a 600MW offshore wind project.

In South Korea, Iberdrola recently signed a memorandum of understanding with GS Energy to develop renewable energy projects in South Korea and other Asian markets.

Iberdrola has launched a €75 billion (US$88.5 billion) investment plan for the 2020-2025 period, with the aim of doubling its renewable capacity. The company already has investments amounting to over €120 billion, with an installed capacity of more than 33GW.