Spanish firm Iberdrola Renewables built more wind farms last year than any other energy company.

The company fired up 39 new wind facilities in eight countries, with a total capacity of 1,780 megawatts.

Eighteen of these wind farms were in the US, where the company is making the most of the country’s favourable regulatory environment to renewable energy. Total US capacity was 1,043 MW.

In its home country, Iberdrola Renewables installed 420 MW, with 130 MW in the UK, where it is now the leading developer and generator of onshore wind energy.

Other countries where it has a prominent renewables foothold France, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Mexico, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Brazil.

The company produced a total of 25,405 kilowatt hours at its renewable plants in 2010, 18.2% more than the year before and its highest output ever.

The output of the company’s small-scale hydro-electric plants totaled 823m kWh in 2010, with other technologies contributing a further 63m kWh.

The renewable firm’s parent company, Iberdrola, which owns Scottish Power, is to invest £3bn in Scottish businesses over the next two years.

Iberdrola has more than 1,800 suppliers in Scotland, including Scottish Coal, renewables company Pelamis, and Mott MacDonald, a management, engineering and development firm.

It recently based the UK arm of its engineering and construction business in Lanarkshire and is to locate the headquarters of its global offshore renewables business in Glasgow.

Iberdrola chairman Ignacio Galan said: “In the coming years, Iberdrola will intensify its firm commitment to Scotland. We plan to make investments in the United Kingdom of £4,000m in the 2010-2012 period, two-thirds of which will go to Scotland.”