On Tuesday, energy major Royal Dutch Shell announced that its U.S.-based clean-tech subsidiary Shell New Energies has agreed to buy Inspire Energy Capital, a provider of residential renewable energy to 235,000 customers in eight U.S. states plus the District of Columbia.
In a statement on the deal, Shell said the acquisition was part of its Powering Progress strategy, unveiled earlier this year to build and scale renewable and low-carbon businesses as the parent company aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Inspire will add to Shell’s portfolio of residential U.S. power suppliers, alongside Texas-based energy provider MP2 Energy.
“Our goal is to become a major provider of renewable and low-carbon energy, and this acquisition moves us a step closer to achieving that,” said Elisabeth Brinton, Executive Vice President of Renewables & Energy Solutions at Shell. “This deal instantly expands our business-to-consumer power offerings in key regions in the U.S., and we are well-positioned to build on Inspire’s advanced digital capabilities to allow more households to benefit from renewable and low-carbon energy.”
Inspire incentivizes retail customers to manage their energy usage via a rewards program that is integrated in a mobile app. Shell said the Inspire acquisition would accelerate its own digital ambitions in the power sector by using data-driven, digital platforms to make it easier for customers to lower their carbon footprint. Shell Energy North America has been a supplier to Inspire since 2017.
On target
In order to meet its own emissions target, Shell may need to double the amount of electricity it sells and provide enough renewable energy to power 50 million households by 2030.
In May, Shell agreed to sell its Puget Sound Refinery in Washington to independent Texas oil refiner HollyFrtiner for $350,000 million in cash plus the value of the hydrocarbon inventory. The divestment was announced as part of Shell’s strategy to reduce its global refinery footprint to core sites integrated with the company’s trading hubs, chemical plants, and marketing businesses.
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