By Sam Morgan | EURACTIV.com

Oil and gas giant Shell has plans for a 100-megawatt grid storage battery in the west of England. It is slated to be the biggest battery in Europe once it is completed later this year and will be crucial to the UK’s quest to remain the continent’s top wind power player.

The battery project in the county of Wiltshire aims to store renewable power in two 50MW cells and then sell it to consumers when demand and prices are high.

“Projects like this will be vital for balancing the UK’s electricity demand and supply as wind and solar power play bigger roles in powering our lives,” said Shell Energy Europe vice president David Wells. read more

The Anglo-Dutch company has made a number of large investments in renewables, electric vehicle technologies and power markets under Gainsborough, including acquiring British utility First Utility…

By Ron Bousso: 9 January 2020

LONDON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell’s <RDSa.L> New Energies boss Mark Gainsborough will step down in April and be replaced by Elisabeth Brinton, who joined the business in 2018 and will oversee the company’s plans to expand its low-carbon and power business.

Gainsborough, a 39-year Shell veteran, set up Shell’s New Energies four years ago as the oil and gas company faces heavy investor pressure to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global warming. read more

Jillian Ambrose and Jasper Jolly: Fri 3 Jan 2020 06.00 GMT

Shell’s green spending plans were dealt a blow earlier this year when the company missed out on a multibillion dollar race to buy Dutch utility Eneco, which has a large renewable energy portfolio. Shell and its pension fund partner lost out to a consortium of investors led by Japan’s Mitsubishi, which paid $4.5bn for the company.

The deal might have pushed Shell’s green investment towards its planned spending range. Shell said it was disappointed it lost the bid, and said that it would continue to invest growing gas and electricity generation from renewable sources. read more

First Utility were rebranded as Shell Energy in March 2019, more than a year after Shell purchased the supplier, and announced they were switching to 100% renewable energy. They later announced they were purchasing fellow small supplier Green Star Energy, another renewables specialist.

By Lucy Brown: 3 January 2020

Extracts

Records were broken in 2019 as more UK electricity was produced via renewables rather than from fossil fuels.

Wind and solar both saw record generation peaks, plus a day in August has been labelled as the ‘greenest’ ever. read more

• Madeleine Cuff
• @Madeleine_BG
• 03 January 2020

Energy supplier moves tariff from 0.001p per kWh to 3.5p per kWh, insisting first price was a ‘pilot’ tariff

Shell Energy has significantly bumped the price it will pay for solar energy produced by domestic customers, after attracting criticism from climate campaigners for initially having the lowest rates on the market.

Under the new Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) launched on Wednesday large suppliers must pay for energy provided to the grid by small scale producers, including people with rooftop solar panels. read more

Jeroen van Hoof: 2 January 2020

Oil and gas companies are entering the utilities market—aiming to take advantage of rapid market transformation

In the last few years, an increasing number of International Oil Companies (IOCs) have entered the utilities sector—especially those with headquarters in Europe.

Shell, for example, has taken a series of strategic decisions to grab a share of this market. The company has now installed more than 10GW of generating capacity in North America, of which one-third is from renewable resources.  It has also invested in offshore wind near the Netherlands, acquired First Utility in the UK to supply gas and energy services to domestic consumers, and entered the US supply market through MP2 Energy, while also buying into US and Asian solar power generation through EV vehicle charging and battery technology… read more

Shell Energy’s offer of 0.001p/kWh is not just insulting to small-scale renewables, but frankly unworkable. As it stands, Shell’s SEG tariff merely comes across as a mealy-mouthed attempt at avoiding a slapped wrist at the hands of Ofgem.

By: Alice Grundy: Junior reporter, Solar Power Portal

Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) tariffs have been unveiled after the legislation came into full effect yesterday (1 January 2020), with pricing ranging wildly from Social Energy’s 5.6p per kWh down to the barely-compliant 0.001p per kWh that Shell Energy is offering.

Under the SEG, suppliers with over 150,000 domestic customers were required to launch an export tariff on or before 1 January 2020. Social isn’t required to launch a tariff due to the supplier having less than 150,000 domestic customers, but already offers export payments of 5.6p per kWh to its customers, making its offering top of the league table for export payments. Likewise, Green Network Energy is also offering its tariff on a voluntary basis. read more

Shell Energy signs solar PPA for energy produced by EDF California project

Rod Walton: 4 Dec 2019

EDF Renewables North America and Shell Energy North America have signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for 132 MW of solar output in Riverside County, California.

The Maverick 7 project is part of the Palen Solar site to be built on 3,140 acres of federal lands. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management completed the federal permitting process approving the project in October 2018.

The project is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2021.

“Palen Solar, with a total of 500 MW of solar capacity, demonstrates EDF Renewables’ long-term commitment to solar development in California,” said Dai Owen, vice president of power marketing for EDF Renewables. “The project uniquely positions the company to help load-serving entities meet their long-term carbon goals and obligations under California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by offering smaller tranches at industry-leading prices.” read more