What concerns the near future of the energy transition is a veritable renewable arms race.
It is the case of Shell, one of the largest European oil companies, which – in the words of Shell Italia number one Marco Brun – has “the ambition to become the largest electricity company in the world within the next 15 years”. This statement explains how much the process of transformation of the company's main activities has not only already started, but also how much the company is ready to commit itself to achieve the short-term goal and guarantee value for shareholders.
In a historical moment in which the race towards green energy proceeds at a gallop in the face of ever-increasing demand, the big Big Oil companies have taken the challenge posed by the energy transition more seriously than ever. It is in this direction that the Anglo-Dutch company is moving, for example rethinking mobility with hydrogen and pushing investments in wind power and photovoltaics.
So what happens – as is happening – if the big oil companies begin to evaluate and open up to new, more sustainable energy supplies? Waiting for the first responses on the subject won't be excruciating, because the energy transition is underway and the world's major oil giants have already started transforming their main business models, directing them from fossil fuel to electricity.
Like Shell, the other major oil companies have already started their foray into the world of renewable sources. Between these the English British Petroleum which bought the largest chain of automotive electricity distributors in the UK, e the French Total which, on the other hand, bought the Franco-Belgian energy producer Direct Energie, while Shell has bought the British First Utility.
Eni recently inaugurated the construction site for a new photovoltaic plant in Tataouine in southern Tunisia which will have an estimated maximum capacity of 10 megawatts. But above all, Eni's strategic plan for the four-year period 2019-2022 envisages complete 60 new projects and the acquisition of others already underway for a total of over 1,6 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2022, investing 1,4 billion, and up to 5 gigawatts by 2025. These are still "small" figures for a giant that maintains its core business in the upstream, a sector that will absorb 77% of the company's total investments, equal to 33 billion in the four-year period. But the green path has started and indicates an irreversible trend.
Eni confirms the path taken to reduce its carbon footprint with the ambitious goal of eliminating the direct net emissions of activities connected to oil production by 2030. According to what is reported in the official presentation note of the plan, Eni also sets itself the goal of increase its retail clientele in Europe, aiming to reach 12 million customers, an increase compared to 2018 of around 12%.
And if on the one hand Shell, Eni, Total and the other big oil companies are deviating from the fossil road, on the other the Big Powers of electricity are certainly not standing idly by.
Enel, with 64 million customers worldwide, has a record that is difficult to achieve. The group has launched many mega-sized projects. The most recent is the construction of the wind farm Lagoa dos Ventos in Brazil with a capacity of over 700 megawatts and is expected to enter service in 2021. It is the largest wind farm currently under construction in Latin America and Enel Green Power's largest facility. in Texas, instead, the construction of the wind farm has started High Lonesome with a capacity of about 450 megawattst. Then the Mexican solar parks of Villanueva and Don José which together exceed a solar capacity of 1 gigawatt. Still, Peru's largest solar plant with a capacity of 180 megawatts and that of Horizonte in Brazil of 103 megawatts. Enel's quarterly plan between 2019 and 2021 provides for gross investments of 27,5 billion, of which 42% will be allocated to renewable energies – about 10.6 billion.
Objectives in which he also invested Edison, which aims to play an important role during the Italian energy transition process. To achieve this result, the company is planning investments of two billion in the three-year period 2019-2021, together with the goal of reaching 2,5 million customers by 2022.
The big games globally have started, the next moves will be discovered in a short time.
