Satellite Intelligence to Bolster Iberdrola Power Grid Against Extreme Weather
SAR Technology to Provide Near Real-Time Hazard Data for Spanish Pilot, U.S. and Australian Assets
A Finnish space technology company has been selected to help one of the world’s largest electric utilities defend its power grid against floods, wildfires, and severe storms using synthetic aperture radar satellites and near real-time geospatial data.
“This collaboration enables the integration of satellite intelligence into network operations.”
Gonzalo García-Muñoz, ICEYE
ICEYE, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, will work with Iberdrola under a 12-month pilot program initially covering Spain’s electricity distribution network. The partnership emerged from Iberdrola’s international open innovation program, PERSEO, where ICEYE’s multi-hazard solution won a New-Tech Challenge that drew more than 40 proposals from ten countries.
At the center of the deployment is ICEYE’s Flood Solutions Suite, operational from day one. The suite’s Flood Early Warning capability provides predictive data to help network managers prepare before disasters strike, while Flood Rapid Impact and Flood Insights deliver continuous updates on flood extent and water depth at the individual asset level. Together, those tools give Iberdrola actionable data before, during, and after a flood event, allowing repair teams to be directed to the most heavily damaged infrastructure first.
The pilot also addresses windstorms and wildfires — two hazards that frequently threaten Spain’s electricity grid. Because ICEYE’s SAR satellites capture high-resolution imagery through heavy smoke and storm clouds, the company will support Iberdrola in tracking wildfire spread and assessing structural wind damage in the hours immediately after a weather event.
“This collaboration enables the integration of satellite intelligence into network operations, the detection of risks at an earlier stage, and the acceleration of supply restoration in affected areas,” said Gonzalo García-Muñoz, SVP of Global Operations and CEO of ICEYE Spain.
Andy Read, Vice President of Government Solutions at ICEYE, emphasized the urgency utilities face after major incidents. “Electric utilities need actionable intelligence in the first hours after an incident,” he said. “ICEYE’s SAR technology gives Iberdrola a reliable view of where flooding, wildfires, or storm damage is occurring and which assets are most affected. With near real-time data, we can help reduce outage times for customers and strengthen the resilience of Spain’s energy network.”
Iberdrola’s distribution arm in Spain, i-DE Redes Eléctricas Inteligentes, is a key participant in the pilot. “Resilience is a key priority for our electricity networks, and this collaboration enables us to incorporate advanced observation and analysis capabilities to anticipate extreme events, minimize their impact on customers, and strengthen the electricity system in the long term,” said Óscar Villanueva, Director of the Western Region at i-DE.
The partnership extends beyond Spain. ICEYE will deploy its Hurricane Rapid Impact solution for Iberdrola assets in the United States and Australia, delivering damage heatmaps within 24 hours of a hurricane making landfall to allow network managers to rapidly triage affected regional infrastructure.
Iberdrola operates nearly 870,000 miles of electricity transmission and distribution lines across the United States — including networks in New York, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts — as well as in the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Spain, serving more than 100 million customers globally.