British-headquartered oil giant Shell has acquired 1.1GW worth of solar PV projects from Spanish solar generation company Isemaren.
The news of the 12 project portfolio was announced on LinkedIn this week by Oscar Fernandez, chairman and business manager of Shell Spain. The projects are in various regions around Spain and follow a framework agreement signed between the two companies in 2022.
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In a separate post, Shell executive vice president of global renewable generation Thomas Brostrøm said: “Bringing these assets into our portfolio strengthens our presence in one of Europe’s largest solar power markets.”
On its website, Isemaren said that it has been developing a 1GW PV portfolio in Spain since 2019.
According to Reuters, Shell has recently backed out of a lot of low carbon technology projects as its CEO, Wael Sawan, seeks higher-return activities. Indeed, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Investment 2023 report found that, on average, major fossil fuel companies put less than 5% of their investment into low carbon technologies last year. Major companies also made record profits last year.
The same IEA report showed that investment in solar PV is set to exceed investment into oil for the first time ever in 2023.
Spain’s PV market continues to see a lot of activity; Ibedrola announced plans this week to develop 1.3GW of renewables in the country alongside the sovereign wealth fund of Norway, and French energy giant TotalEnergies received positive environmental assessments for 3GW worth of Spanish PV last week. Following this announcement, TotalEnergies – one of the seven largest oil companies in the world – revealed that it has sold ‘most of’ its venture capital renewable energy assets to a compatriot VC firm, Aster.