SHELL says it will no longer invest in any alternative energy technology that is not economically viable.
Linda Cook, Shell’s executive director for gas and power, said: “If there aren’t investment opportunities which compete with other projects, we won’t put money into it.
“We are businessmen and women. If there were renewables (that made money) we would put money into them.”
Thus far, the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in 11 wind projects in North America, Hawaii and Europe with a total capacity of about 1,100 megawatts.
Shell has also devoted considerable investment to photovoltaic solar technology and hydroelectric power projects, particularly offshore.
The super-major now says it will no longer invest in wind, solar or hydro power generation because they are not viable economically now and in the near future – an odd decision considering that others can make money, and hydropower, for example, accounts for 16% of global power generation.
Shell is investing in non-food-based biofuels which are said to be less harmful to the environment. Indeed, the company is already the world’s largest purchaser of crop-based biofuels.
The company insists, too, that it intends to focus on “greening up” fossil fuels through such practices as carbon capture and storage, and to apply this means of reducing or eliminating CO emissions from such projects as its tar sands developments in Alberta, Canada.
“It is now looking like biofuels is closest to what we do at Shell,” Cook said.
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