Global energy giant Shell will begin the production of household batteries in South Australia after agreeing to acquire German battery giant sonnen.
Executive vice president New Energies at Shell Mark Gainsborough said full ownership of sonnen would allow Shell to offer more choice to customers seeking reliable, affordable and cleaner energy.
“sonnen is one of the global leaders in smart, distributed energy storage systems and has a track record of customer-focused innovation,” he said.
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“Together, we can accelerate the building of a customer-focused energy system in support of Shell’s strategy to offer more and cleaner energy solutions to customers.”
Chief executive officer and co-founder of sonnen Christoph Ostermann said, “With this investment we’re excited to help more households to become energy independent and benefit from new opportunities in the energy market.
“Shell will help drive the growth of sonnen to a new level and help speed up the transformation of the energy system.”
The acquisition announcement follows an investment by Shell in May 2018 and means that post regulatory approval and completion sonnen will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell.
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The purchase is set to bolster Shell’s New Energies business, which has also seen Shell recently announce it will build a 120 MW solar farm in Queensland.
According to Renewables Now, Shell’s chairman Zoe Yujnovich said the company has well advanced plans for a solar project located near the land of its QGC natural gas business near Wondoan.
