Drivers in the United States can expect to see first hand how London-based Shell PLC is making progress toward its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Shell USA expects its acquisition of San Francisco-based Volta Inc., a maker of electric-vehicle (EV) charging stalls with media displays, to be approved at a company meeting this week, giving it a way to bring state-of-the-art charging technology to Shell gas stations if regulators also approve the deal.
The Volta acquisition would ease the process of installing EV charging stalls at Shell USA’s gas station network, and it could catapult Shell to the leading position in EV charging in the United States. Volta’s combined charger-and-media-display units provide a second revenue stream from advertising to help the charging stalls be self-sustainable as EVs catch on. The company also has released a predictive analytics tool designed to help local governments and businesses decide where charging ports should be installed.
Acquiring Volta also would assist in Shell’s goal of cutting in half absolute emissions from its own operations by 2030 compared with 2016 levels, because Shell-branded stations could install Volta chargers relatively quickly. The company achieved a 30% reduction by the end of 2022, according to a company statement. The company’s energy transition strategy received the support of 89% of shareholders who voted in 2021 and 80% of them in 2022, the company said.
But just how important EV charging will be in the larger picture is a question Shell’s new CEO Wael Sawan will consider in the wake of record 2022 earnings from oil and gas. Sawan took the reins as CEO in January, succeeding Ben van Beurden, who led the company’s energy transition plan.
In 2022, Shell achieved adjusted earnings of $39.87 billion, up from $19.29 billion in 2021, while oil-and-gas production declined to 2,864 from 3,237 in thousands of barrels of oil equivalent per day. Despite lower volume, integrated gas earnings in 2022 rose to $22.21 billion, up from $8.06 billion in 2021, while renewables and energy solutions earnings posted a loss of $1.06 billion, compared with a loss of $1.51 billion in 2021, according to the company’s annual report.
Sawan is weighing shareholder’s interests in continued profitability with environmentalists’ calls for cleaner energy and their support for electricity and wind power, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Sawan wants the company’s clean energy projects to be self-supporting instead of relying on profits from Shell’s oil-and-gas business, he told The Wall Street Journal. Experts say this will only happen when the market is ready for EV and other clean energies.
Sawan said he might reconsider the company’s 2021 target of 1% to 2% annual declines in crude output to 2030, which it has surpassed so far, and instead look for new petroleum sources globally. This might stem from investor support at competitors ExxonMobil and Chevron, which are maintaining their focus on fossil fuels, the Journal said.
In 2022, the number of EV charge points the company owned or operated globally rose 60% to 139,000 from 86,000 in 2021, according to Shell’s Energy Transition Progress Report 2022. The company acquired a German EV charging company, SBRS GmbH, which provides charging for buses, trucks and vans. With the acquisition, Shell plans to increase its charging services for business customers who face pressure to join the EV movement and reduce their carbon footprint.
In the fourth quarter, Shell acquired a West African solar power producer Daystar Power Group, a solar energy platform in Spain and a 50% stake in a Western Australian wind, solar and battery-energy company called Kondinin Energy Pty Ltd. It also agreed to work with Eneco on a wind power project in the Netherlands.