Brazilian state-owned oil giant Petrobras has acquired 49.9% of solar developer Lightsource bp’s subsidiaries in Brazil, for an amount of money Petrobras described as “not materially significant” for the company.
Following the deal, Petrobras and Lightsource bp will operate the Brazilian portfolio through a joint venture. This portfolio consists of the 232MW Milagres solar park in the northeastern state of Ceará, plus a 1-1.5GW pipeline of projects in “more advanced stages of development”, alongside projects at a less developed stage, for which Petrobras did not provide further information.
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Petrobras described the investment as a “significant and strategic step” into the solar PV generation space, which aligns with the company’s five-year plan, announced earlier this year, that aims to invest in the energy transition. The company plans to commit US$13 billion into clean technologies by the end of the decade, of which US$1.8 billion will go towards onshore solar PV and wind generation alone. Other features of the plan include a goal of reaching carbon neutrality among operations by 2050.
This transition comes as both Brazil and the world’s energy mix shift towards a greater reliance on renewable power. Figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Petrobras forecast the contribution of renewable power in Brazil’s energy mix to increase from 53% in 2023 to 64% in 2050; over the same period, the contribution of oil to the country’s energy mix is expected to fall from 33% to 23%.
However, despite these trends, Petrobras’ five-year plan also includes an emphasis to “focus on oil and gas”, highlighting that fossil fuel generation remains a priority for the company. Indeed, earlier this year, fellow oil and gas major BP divested its interests in Lightsource, its solar development arm, and the fact that Petrobras invested a “not materially significant” amount of money in the Lightsource acquisition suggests the solar development company is not a priority for either oil and gas major.
