Iberduero (

IBEX 35 The IBEX 35 (IBerian IndEX) is the benchmark stock market index of the Bolsa de Madrid, Spain's principal stock exchange. Initiated in 1992, the index is administered and calculated by Sociedad de Bolsas, a subsidiary of Bolsas y Mercados Espa� ...

: IBE) was a Spanish company, dedicated to the

generation A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...

and distribution of electricity, founded in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

in 1944, as a result of the merger of '' Hidroeléctrica Ibérica'' and '' Saltos del Duero''. Listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange, it was one of the leading Spanish companies in the

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

sector, and in 1992 it merged, through a

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bid, with ''

Hidroeléctrica Española Iberdrola, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It has around 40,000 employees and serves around 30 million customers. Subsidiaries include ScottishPower (United Kingdom), Avangrid (Unite ...

'' to create

Iberdrola Iberdrola, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It has around 40,000 employees and serves around 30 million customers. Subsidiary, Subsidiaries include ScottishPower (United Kingdom), Ava ...

, one of the five most important companies in the sector worldwide.

Foundation

The origin of Iberduero is in the company '' Hidroeléctrica Ibérica'', which was founded in

by the engineer Juan Urrutia Zulueta on July 19, 1901, with capital provided by the

BBVA Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Bilbao, with operative offices in Madrid. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, ...

. Initially, this company was dedicated to the hydroelectric exploitation of several waterfalls that it built in the north of Spain, mainly in the

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. In 1944, ''Hidroeléctrica Ibérica'' absorbed '' Saltos del Duero'', which had been founded in 1918 to exploit the hydroelectric exploitation of the

Douro River The Douro (, , , ; ; ) is the largest river of the Iberian Peninsula by discharge. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in the Spanish province of Soria, meanders briefly south, then flows generally west through the northern part of the Meseta ...

in its section bordering

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The merger was completed on September 30, 1944, giving rise to ''Iberduero S.L.''

Expansion

In 1970, Iberduero, together with its subsidiaries, already produced 27% of the electrical energy consumed in Spain. Its subsidiaries were '' Electra Aguera'', '' Electra de Burgos'', '' Electra de Extremadura'', '' Electra Popular Vallisoletana'', '' Electra de Salamanca'', '' Electra de Soria'', '' Electra de Logroño'', '' Compañía Eléctrica del Urumea'', '' Fuerzas Eléctricas de Navarra'', '' El Irati'', '' León Industrial'', '' Vitoriana de Electricidad'' and '' Saltos del Sil''. In addition, it was part of Nuclenor (operation of

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

s) and Terminor (operation of

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

s), both shared 50/50 with '' Electra de Viesgo''. Presa de Aldeadavila

Iberduero developed a large hydroelectric system, with more than 100 plants, being especially important the one formed by the plants located on the Douro and its tributaries, which included the Aldeadávila, Saucelle, Almendra, Castro, Ricobayo and Villalcampo dams. Iberduero's thermoelectric program began in the 1960s. In 1965 it started up the expansion of the Burceña thermal power plant in

Barakaldo Barakaldo (; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country in Spain. Located on the Left Bank (Biscay), Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is pa ...

, in 1968 the Pasajes thermal power plant and in 1969 the Santurce power plant. As part of Terminor, it started up the Velilla power plant in 1964, although in 1984 it bought its part from '' Electra de Viesgo'' and built a second group. It also participated in the generation of electricity from

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy, the pot ...

. To this end, it also formed a 50/50 alliance with ''Electra de Viesgo'' in the creation of ''Nuclenor'' in 1957, which carried out the construction and start-up of the Garoña nuclear power plant in 1971. Iberduero also undertook the construction of the Lemóniz nuclear power plant, which was paralyzed in 1982 when it became the target of the

terrorist organization Several national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and former ...

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, which attacked its facilities and murdered two of its engineers ( José María Ryan and Ángel Pascual Múgica) and three workers. In 1985, it became the sole shareholder in the

Almaraz nuclear power plant Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power station at Almaraz in Spain which uses the Tagus River, that runs into Portugal, for cooling. It consists of two pressurized water reactors (PWRs) of 1011 and 1006 MWe. Arrocampo reservoir Cooling ...

(53%) and in the Trillo nuclear power plant (51%). All these structures led to frequent capital increases by the company, which was listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange and the

. The number of subscribers to the company increased from 250,000 at the time of its foundation to 1,400,000 in 1967. The company's largest shareholder since its foundation has been BBVA ( Banco Bilbao Vizcaya since 1988).

Merger

In 1990, Iberduero and ''

'' (''Hidrola'', one of its main competitors) began negotiations aimed at a possible union of their interests, seeking an alliance that would balance the electricity market, which was 40% dominated by

Endesa Endesa, S.A. (, originally an initialism for ''Empresa Nacional de Electricidad, S.A''.) is a Spanish multinational electric utility company, the largest in the country. The firm, a majority-owned subsidiary of the Italian utility company Enel, ...

, the same percentage that would be reached by the merger of both companies. The final agreement was reached on May 1, 1991, and the system used was a

bid presented by Iberduero for the integration of both companies. At the time of the merger, Hidrola had 418,605,724 shares, and Iberduero had 508,526,934; the agreement stipulated that one Iberduero share would have the same value as one share of the new company, while 5 Hidrola shares would be equivalent to 4 Hidrola shares plus 250 pesetas. On December 12, 1992, the company resulting from the merger was legally incorporated, which would bear a name composed of those of the two previous companies:

. This act also involved the absorption of the subsidiaries of both companies: '' Eléctrica de Langreo'', '' Electra de Logroño'', '' Vitoriana de Electricidad'', '' Fuerzas Eléctricas de Navarra'', '' Compañía Eléctrica del Urumea'', Centrales Térmicas del Norte (Terminor) and '' Edificaciones Iberoamericanas''.

Presidents

* Pedro Careaga Basabe (1944-1977) * Pedro de Areitio (1977-1981) * Manuel Gómez de Pablo (1981-1992)

References

Bibliography

* {{Cite web , last=García Adán , first=Juan Carlos , last2=Yolanda , first2=Diego Martín , date=2005 , title=EL ARCHIVO HISTÓRICO DE IBERDROLA Y LA INDUSTRIA ELÉCTRICA EN ESPAÑA: FONDOS PARA LA INVESTIGACIÓN HISTÓRICA. , url=http://www.usc.es/estaticos/congresos/histec05/b21_garcia_diego.pdf , access-date= , website=CONGRESO DE HISTORIA ECONÓMICA , language=Spanish , publication-place=Santiago de Compostela

External links

Iberdrola website
Iberdrola Defunct electric power companies of Spain 1992 disestablishments in Spain 1944 establishments in Spain Companies disestablished in 1992 Companies established in 1944 Francoism Organisations based in Bilbao