A Cass County solar project is now under the management of one of the nation’s largest gasoline and oil suppliers.
Savion Energy and Shell New Energies U.S. LLC jointly announced on December 17th that Savion had been purchased by Shell New Energies US LLC, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell – the fourth largest oil producer in the world according to Investopedia.
Savion will now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shell, with continued operations under its existing brand within Shell’s Renewables & Energy Solutions business.
The acquisition of Savion will help expand Shell’s existing solar and energy storage business and contribute to the company’s goals to develop an integrated power business as it moves to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, a goal Shell set in 2018.
According to the CDP Carbon Majors Report of 2017, when taking into account its scope of 3 major greenhouse gas emissions (emissions caused by the public and other companies using its products), Shell was the ninth-largest corporate producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the period of 1988-2015. Shell’s emissions were a part of a landmark environmental case in the Netherlands in which the company was ordered in May 2021 to reduce its global carbon emissions from its 2019 levels by 45% by 2030. It is considered to be the first major climate change litigation ruling against a major global corporation.
Shell has also announced an aim to sell more than 560 terawatt hours of power globally per year by 2030: double the amount of electricity it sells today.
Savion told the Journal Courier that all of the company’s current projects will move forward uninterrupted, including the 150-megawatt, 1,500 acre Beardstown solar farm to be constructed near Edgewood Drive.
The project is expected to begin construction late this year or early 2023.