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Iberdrola posts record profit on renewables boost

Spain’s electricity giant Iberdrola said Wednesday its 2018 net profit rose 7.5 percent to 3.01 billion euros, its best-ever result, thanks to a boost in its wind and hydro energy output.

“It is the first time the group’s earnings have exceeded three billion euros,” the Bilbao-based group said in a statement.

Turnover rose 12.2 percent to 35.1 billion euros ($39.8 billion), it said.

Sales in the company’s renewable energy branch, meanwhile, rose 28 percent thanks to a rise in production of wind, hydro and to a lesser extent solar energy.

Gas and coal production dropped last year.

The production of hydroelectricity in Spain and Portugal soared 74 percent compared to a particularly dry year in 2017.

In Brazil, where Iberdrola owns dams, demand increased.

Iberdrola CEO Ignacio Galan said the profit generated “encourages us to continue pushing for the transition to a low carbon economy”.

“The fight against climate change is an opportunity,” he added in a statement.

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