Energy giant BP is looking to increase its capacity for renewable energy generation. They want to do this by purchasing the outstanding stake in its joint venture for solar power, Lightsource BP (LSBP). This is according to Reuters, which cites three sources from the company and industry.
LSBP was founded as Lightsource Renewable Energy in 2010 by Nick Boyle, the company’s CEO. BP originally bought a 43% stake in it in 2017 for $200 million. Later in 2019, it increased its stake to 50%, although the contractual terms would have allowed BP to increase it further. Most of the remaining 50% stake is held by Boyle.
LSBP operates in 19 countries, where it has so far established 9 GW of solar generation capacity, with there being plans for a further 25 GW by 2025. Nevertheless, BP also has its own in-house solar generation capacity, such as the 9 gigawatts of solar projects in the US that it acquired from 7X Energy. According to Reuter’s sources, bringing LSBP fully under the corporate umbrella would allow BP to unify it with its own solar projects, make decisions about investments and projects simpler and grow BP’s overall renewables capacity, which it plans to increase to 50 GW by the end of this decade.
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