* Targets further 200 MW of U.S. PPA's before year-end
* Targets 1.4-1.5 GW of new capacity in 2011, half in U.S.
* 9-month group core profit in line, net beats forecasts (Recasts with U.S. business; adds outlook to year end, quotes)
MADRID, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Spain's Iberdrola Renovables is confident about expanding in the United States despite regulatory uncertainty and a slowdown in renewables investment, the company said after posting 9-month results that were broadly in line with its own forecasts.
Renovables expects to sign long-term supply contracts (PPAs) for a further 200 megawatts of renewable energy in the United States before the year ends and will install about half of its planned 1,400-1,500 MW of new capacity for 2011 there, the green energy group said.
"We are still seeing support for an (green) energy bill in the United States ... although there is a problem with CO2 regulation," Ralph Curry, Iberdrola's chief executive for the United States, said on a conference call after the group's results.
Renewable energy groups have cut investment in the United States on fears that the Democrats could lose a majority in the U.S. Congress, leading to further delays in the passage of an already sidelined green energy bill.
The American Wind Energy Association estimates that only about 5 GW of new capacity will go on stream in 2010, compared with more than 10 GW in 2009.
"The support given to renewable energy in the U.S. is firm until 2012. ... There is always talk (of regulatory danger) but then it comes to nothing," Iberdrola Renovables Chairman Ignacio Sanchez Galan said on the conference call.
Renovables has managed to cover nearly all of its 600 MW of new U.S. capacity to September with PPA's at $70-75 per megawatt hour, despite lower power prices and a weak gas market which depressed earnings its U.S. gas business.
CAPACITY BOOSTS 9-MTHS EARNINGS
Core group earnings to September rose 19.4 percent to 972 million euros and met analysts' estimates, as a 17.2 percent increase in power generation from added capacity in Spain and the U.S. offset weak wind generation in the UK and weaker gas division earnings.
Nine-months net profit grew 7.1 percent to 179 million euros ($249 million), beating a forecast of 168 million in a Reuters poll. The company affirmed its forecasts for double-digit growth in capacity and earnings to the end of the year and beyond.
Renovable's parent company, Iberdrola, will report its 9-months results on Wednesday. (Reporting by Jonathan Gleave; Editing by Richard Chang)