Providing lower-carbon electricity
Lower-carbon and renewable power
We believe more renewable energy, such as solar and wind, is critical for a cleaner energy future, and that how people live, work and play is increasingly going to need to be powered by lower-carbon electricity.
In 2020, we stepped up our activities in generating and trading lower-carbon and renewable electricity, as well as providing it directly to customers.
Renewables and Energy Solutions
a selection of investments, acquisitions and ventures
Wind
We are expanding our wind power activities to make more renewable electricity available to our customers. At the end of 2020, the Shell share of total installed capacity combined from onshore and offshore wind was 290 megawatts (MW), with a further Shell share of 2,861 MW in development. We have wind power interests in several countries, including off the coasts of the Netherlands and the USA, as well as onshore USA.
In 2020, the CrossWind consortium, a joint venture between Shell and Eneco, won the tender to build and operate the Hollandse Kust (noord) offshore wind farm (Shell interest 79.9%). The project is expected to start operating in 2023 and will supply 759 MW, equivalent to powering more than 1 million Dutch homes with renewable energy. It is intended to help meet the objectives of the Dutch government’s National Climate Agreement, which contains agreements with sectors on what they will do to help achieve the Netherlands’ climate goals, and the European Green Deal, the plan to make the European Union's economy sustainable.
Shell is a 20% shareholder in the Blauwwind Consortium, which is developing the Borssele III and IV wind farm off the Dutch coast. In 2020, Blauwwind started generating power and delivering renewable electricity into the Dutch grid. The site has the capacity to generate 731.5 MW. Shell has an agreement to buy and trade half the electricity produced.
We continue to invest in floating wind technologies. We have acquired EOLFI, a French renewable energy developer specialising in floating wind power. Shell is a major shareholder in TetraSpar (Shell interest 46.2%), which is developing an innovative floating wind demonstration project off the coast of Norway. We are also developing a project with floating wind specialist CoensHexicon that could bring 800 MW of floating wind power to South Korea in the first phase of development.
Visit www.shell.com/wind to find out more about our work in wind power.
Solar
We are expanding our solar power generation capability by investing in the development and operation of long-term commercial and industrial solar projects, including at our own sites.
At the end of 2020, our share of installed solar power capacity was 674 megawatts (MW), with 1,053 MW in development.
In the USA, Silicon Ranch, a company in which we increased our stake in 2020 and now have a 46.47% interest, continued to expand its Regenerative Energy programme across some of the 142 projects it owns and operates in 14 states. The programme combines solar electricity generation with carbon sequestration and ecosystem restoration. Silicon Ranch projects operating in 2020 had a total capacity of 1,130 MW.
The Silicon Ranch project in the USA, where solar electricity generation is combined with rural revitalisation.
In 2020, we announced plans to build our first industrial-scale solar power plant. The Gangarri Solar Project in Australia is expected to produce up to 120 MW of renewable energy. The project will help power our QGC natural gas project in Queensland and has the potential to reduce QGC’s carbon dioxide emissions by around 300,000 tonnes a year.
Oman Shell launched the Qabas solar project in Oman to help power a smelting company. The project comprises 88,000 solar panels and generates 25 MW, displacing the equivalent gas-fired power generation taken from the grid and avoiding more than 25,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
Read more about our operations and investments in solar power at www.shell.com/solar
Read more about Silicon Ranch and Regenerative Energy at: www.shell.com/inside-energy/power-of-sun-and-soil
Reducing emissions at work and home
As well as supplying industrial power, Shell also provides low-carbon electricity to workplaces and homes in several countries, including Australia, Germany, the UK, and the USA.
Carbon-neutral homes
We supply 100% certified renewable electricity to more than 900,000 homes in Great Britain through Shell Energy Retail. There we recently launched a range of carbon-neutral energy tariffs to meet growing interest from households for energy with a lower-carbon footprint. The Go Further tariffs offset the life-cycle CO2-equivalent emissions associated with the production, distribution and use of renewable electricity and gas in the home. This is managed by buying equivalent certified carbon credits from projects that protect or enhance forests.
Customers receive 100% renewable electricity with the tariffs. Our renewable electricity is certified by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin, which means that all the electricity customers use is matched with the equivalent amount of electricity generated from 100% renewable sources.
Lower-carbon businesses
We are working with industrial and commercial customers to help them make the transition to lower-carbon and renewable energy. In 2020, in the USA, through our partner company MP2 and Shell Energy, we agreed long-term contracts to supply 100% certified renewable energy to 1,200 Wells Fargo sites in Washington DC and seven US states.
Read more about Shell and lower-carbon electricity at www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies
