BP’s head of renewables confirmed its strategy will focus on powering major integrated energy projects, as she denied claims that the oil supermajor is easing back on its ambition in sectors such as offshore wind.
Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath told Recharge: “My accountability, low carbon, that’s hydrogen and renewables, has been allocated $30bn of capex until the end of the decade, that’s 50% of the capex we are allocating to all our energy transition growth businesses… we’re going all-in.”
Dotzenrath spoke amid claims that BP and its CEO Bernard Looney are under pressure from investors to justify the relatively low returns on offer in renewables compared to other energy transition activities and the booming oil and gas industry.
BP on Tuesday said it will produce more oil and gas for longer than expected in what was portrayed as a strategy shift by the group’s decarbonisation agenda amid record profits from fossil fuels.
Dotzenrath – who joined the oil group as executive vice president for gas & low carbon energy last year from power giant RWE – said while she is still confident that BP has “all the fundamentals” to be a major force in the renewables sector, the focus will be on major projects providing “green electrons” in areas that are part of an integrated value chain such as hydrogen production and EV charging.
You won’t see us investing in two turbines in Germany with a feed-in tariff.
“You won’t see us investing in two turbines in Germany with a feed-in tariff.”
She said to make the case for green power and the returns available, her unit needs to be “absolutely crystal clear where we want to play in hydrogen and renewables and why.
“To build a green hydrogen business I need control of the green electrons,” she said. “In Europe offshore wind is the only scalable technology to provide green hydrogen at scale. We cannot do this with onshore and solar only.”
BP has a target to develop 50GW of renewables to final investment decision by 2030. The group’s pipeline currently stands at 37GW and Dotzenrath said its green power teams – which include its share in the Lightsource BP solar joint venture – are delivering 50% year on year growth in terms of project FIDs, putting it in a league with the likes of Enel and Iberdrola.
Like all oil & gas giants BP is under pressure over the level of its commitment to renewables compared to its core fossil operations.
European peer Shell was last week the subject of a complaint to US stock regulators over claims of ‘greenwashing’ of its renewables investments.
Activist group Follow This said while BP’s renewables investments grew last year, they were still “eclipsed” by those in oil & gas. “The current windfall profits should be used to make the large investments in renewables necessary to address the climate crisis and to ensure the long-term future of the company,” said the group.
