Iberdrola to Double Power Generation in Mexico by 2020

Spanish utility Iberdrola plans to nearly double its electricity generation capacity in Mexico to almost 10,000 megawatts by 2020, taking advantage of its new plants and the country's energy overhaul, a company executive said Friday.

The utility's Mexico subsidiary has 12 plants in operation, including five combined cycle gas turbine plants, two cogeneration plants and four renewable energy plants. It is currently building seven others throughout the country.

"Between 2014 and 2020 Iberdrola will have doubled its size in Mexico from 5,400 (megawatts) to practically 10,000 in six, seven years," said Enrique Alba, corporate director of Iberdrola in Mexico.

Iberdrola Mexico, which generates 15 to 20 percent of all Mexico's electricity, is making about $5 billion in investments in the country through the end of the decade, about half of which will go to new projects.

To reach its target, Alba also said that the company would need four or five plants in addition to the ones currently in operation and under construction in Mexico.

Prior to the passage of Mexico's landmark energy reform laws in 2014, private businesses could build electric grids, but not operate or maintain them.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Natalie Ann Schachar)