Shell is one of Africa’s most influential oil producers, but the purchase of Daystar is its first power acquisition on the continent, underscoring its mandate to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by here 2030.
“In doing so, we are helping to fill a critical energy gap for many people who currently rely on diesel generators for emergency power,” Thomas Brostrøm, Shell’s vice president for renewable energy generation, said in a statement. communicated.
Neither Shell nor Daystar commented on the sale price. Shell has earmarked $2-3 billion in capital spending on renewables and energy solutions in 2022.
Daystar, headquartered in Lagos, provides off-grid power to commercial and industrial customers in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Senegal, offering solar and hybrid power solutions with battery storage.
It has 300 power installations with an installed solar capacity of 32 megawatts, but aims to increase the capacity to 400 MW by 2025.
It also plans to expand into eastern and southern Africa, a goal that Daystar chief executive Jasper Graf von Hardenberg said would be easier to achieve with Shell.
“For the next step – to truly become a pan-African electricity supplier – you need an investor with the same vision. Someone with really enough firepower to finance this growth,” he told Reuters.
Pending regulatory approvals, Shell will wholly own Daystar, but von Hardenberg and the management team will continue to run the business.
Shell’s renewable energy and energy solutions division accounted for 6% of the company’s profits in the second quarter, but new chief executive Wael Sawan is accelerating the move towards cleaner energy.
It transferred hundreds of experienced oil and gas workers to renewables and in April bought Sprng Energy Group, an India-based renewable energy platform, for $1.55 billion.
(Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
By Libby George