Shell Energy Europe has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with German insurance company Signal Iduna’s subsidiary Hansainvest Real Assets to secure 600MW of capacity from a solar project.
The Witznitz Energy Park, where the renewable energy is from, is being constructed by German developer Moveon Energy on the site of a former opencast coal mine near Leipzig. The project is expected to start generating electricity by the end of 2023.
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“Solar power purchase agreements enable us to combine our strengths in power trading and optimisation with our existing customer relationships to deliver more value with fewer emissions,” said Tom Summers, European vice president at Shell Energy Trading.
In the meantime, Shell Energy Europe will sell the power generated by 323MW of the solar capacity under the PPA to US tech corporation Microsoft. Shell Energy Europe said the supply agreement will help Microsoft meet its commitment to having a full supply of renewable energy by 2025.
Earlier this year, Shell also acquired 1.1GW worth of solar PV projects from Spanish solar generation company Isemaren. The projects are in various regions around Spain and follow a framework agreement signed between the two companies in 2022.
In related news, UK-based energy supplier, generator and aggregator Octopus Energy agreed a deal to take over Shell Energy’s UK and Germany retail utility businesses a few days ago, as reported by our sister site Current. The transaction was agreed with Impello Limited, a subsidiary of Shell Petroleum and includes the transfer of broadband as well as electricity customers.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, the fossil fuel giant is also preparing to sell off Germany-headquartered battery storage company sonnen. Focused mainly on the residential space and a market leader in Germany, Shell had acquired sonnen in 2019.