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18 March 2009 - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has announced plans to scale back its renewable energy business and focus purely on oil, gas and biofuels.
According to The Times, Jeroen van der Veer, the chief executive, said that Shell, the world's second-largest non-state-controlled oil company, was planning to drop all new investment in wind, solar and hydrogen energy.
"I don't expect them to grow much at Shell from here, due to portfolio fit and the returns outlook compared to other opportunities," he said, speaking at the Anglo-Dutch group's annual strategy briefing.
He said that instead Shell would focus its remaining renewable energy investments on biofuels, where it is conducting research into "second generation" fuels, so far with little commercial success.
Linda Cook, who heads Shell's gas and power business, said that wind and solar power "struggle to compete with the other investment opportunities we have in our portfolio".
Shell has invested $1.7bn on alternative energy in the past five years, compared with total capital expenditure of $32bn this year. It holds stakes in 11 wind power projects, mostly in the United States, with the capacity to generate 1100 MW of electricity. It also operates research programmes into thin-film solar and hydrogen technology.
Shell also said that it will maintain its spending on carbon capture and storage projects in Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Australia and America - most of which also receive state support.
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