Iberdrola bet its 2001 strategic plan on wind power before the market believed in it

Iberdrola was a product of Spanish utility mergers, heavy in hydro and distribution; in 2001 it was one more power company facing liberalisation at home. Ignacio Sánchez Galán arrived as CEO that year and pushed a strategic plan for 2002-2006, code-named 'x2+', built on two pillars: international expansion and an explicit bet on renewables — a business the industry underestimated and even ignored at the time.

On 26 September 2001 the board met in Bilbao and approved Galán's plan, along with a new management structure — a decisive ratification even as the details kept moving. In December the first big move, an asset-for-equity capital increase in wind platform EHN meant to create what was billed as the world's first renewable-energy group (valued at around €3.3B), hit last-minute headwinds when Iberdrola asked to revisit the deal; the project was delayed, not abandoned.

The direction held. In 2005 Iberdrola switched on Maranchón, then Spain's largest wind farm. The wager then reads as a structural pivot: installed capacity nearly tripled from 2001 levels to more than 47,400 MW by 2019, of which 29,500 MW was renewable — 16,000 MW wind and 12,500 MW hydro — and Iberdrola had become one of the world's largest wind operators.

The 'x2+' plan made renewables the core bet; capacity nearly tripled from 2001 to 47,400+ MW by 2019 — 29,500 MW renewable — wind its signature line

Buying the ignored asset early: in 2001 wind was a sideshow; Galán banked on the cost curve falling, and first-mover scale in sites, permits and turbines compounded into a moat.

A named, board-approved plan made the pivot real: 'x2+' turned a CEO's conviction into a quantified company target that survived leadership and market noise.

Hydro heritage de-risked the bet: Iberdrola already knew the regulatory and grid game of renewable generation, so wind was an extension of its strengths, not a gamble into the unknown.

If you truly believe in a technology curve, bet when the whole industry is ignoring it — but only if it extends strengths you have, and a board-approved plan forces execution

Galán took over as executive chairman in 2006 as international expansion continued; the renewables-first strategy became the template Iberdrola exported worldwide. Two decades on, the group ranks among the world's largest renewable generators, with wind its signature growth line — an early, deliberate energy-transition bet.