Oil and gas conglomerate Shell Plc has announced to buy a 49% stake in WestWind Energy. The new investment by Shell is to develop a low-carbon power generation business in Australia. WestWind Energy is an arm of Germany’s wind farm developer WestWind Group.
Shell Energy Operations wants to develop a 3 gigawatt (GW) portfolio in Australia and the projects will be developed across the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The investment amount remains undisclosed by the two companies.
Tony Nunan, Chairman, Shell Australia Country said, “Our first wind investment in Australia is a significant step in our goal to build a low carbon integrated business in Australia, in line with our customers’ evolving energy needs.”
WestWind Energy Australia says that to build a 3 GW pipeline of renewable energy projects will cost about $4 billion. The company also says that their partnership with Shell is to accelerate the development of future RE projects.
In Australia, Shell has been one of the leading gas producers. For the past few years, the company has been building a power business. It had recently acquired the second largest energy retailer ERM Power. It also bought Powershop which is a green energy retailer.
In 2019, Shell had also made a similar acquisition, when it purchased a 49% stake in ESCO Pacific which is a leading solar farm developer in Australia. Carbon farming company Select Carbon also belongs to Shell.
As far as the ongoing projects are concerned, Shell has partnered with NSW Government and storage and renewable energy developer, Edify, to provide power to schools, community and medical facilities.
The company has also made strategic investments in the 120-megawatt Gangarri Solar Farm in the Western Downs region of Queensland. Once fully operational, it will generate enough energy to power the equivalent of over 50,000 homes.