Shell Goes Full BP – Part Trois

Guest “Why would we want to be ‘competitive’ with Europe” by David Middleton

Shell Is Looking To Shake Up The Energy Game In Texas
By Haley Zaremba – Jun 12, 2022, 10:00 AM CDT

➼ Europe’s biggest oil firms are rushing to diversify their portfolios while expanding into green energy.
➼ Shell announced this week that it will begin selling electricity generated from renewable sources directly to residents and businesses in the Lone Star State. Shell noted that one of the reasons that it is prioritizing Texas as its first market is that “more than 26 million of the state’s nearly 29 million residents were served by a single grid.

For years now, we have seen a growing divide between oil supermajors in Europe and the United States, as Big Oil has split into two factions on opposite sides of the Atlantic over what to do in response to climate change and increasing global calls for decarbonization. As climate activists grow louder and policymakers ramp up the pressure on the fossil fuels sector to clean up its act, European companies have rushed to diversify their portfolios and rebrand themselves as Big Energy. Meanwhile, in the U.S. Big Oil has stood its ground and doubled down on oil and gas, instead investing in schemes such as carbon capture, carbon offsetting, and biofuels.  The approach in the United States has been criticized as insufficient to meet global climate goals…

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On the other side of the argument, Big Oil in the United States points to the massive potential economic fallout and decline in energy security and independence that may come with a swift transition to green energy.

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But while Big Oil has been dragging its feet on the renewable revolution on this side of the pond, European supermajors have seen the writing on the wall, and have made enormous advances in the field of clean energy that threatens to bury any competition from the U.S. once renewables become the norm and oil and gas slowly but surely become overshadowed and then obsolete. 

[…]

In fact, Shell noted that one of the reasons that it is prioritizing Texas as its first market is that “more than 26 million of the state’s nearly 29 million residents were served by a single grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas [ERCOT].” In fact, more opportunities to buy more energy outside of ERCOT can’t come fast enough, as Texas is staring down the barrel of potentially massive energy shortages during summer heat waves. 

Climate advocates and skeptics alike can agree on one thing: becoming competitive with Europe will be essential to the future security of the United States economy. 

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OilPrice.com

Show of hands… How many catastrophic anthropogenic global warming (CAGW) skeptics agree that “becoming competitive with Europe will be essential to the future security of the United States economy”?

This is as dumb as saying that the United States Marine Corps becoming competitive with the Peace Corps is essential to national security. It’s also an appropriate analogy because the Brandon Maladministration appears to be trying to turn the Marine Corps into something other than “the few, the proud, the Marines”…

But, I digress…

The New York Times article about Shell going full BP, might actually be dumber than the OilPrice.com article. I won’t directly quote from it, because the Slimes is very touchy about being quoted on WUWT… The article states that Shell will acquire electricity solely from wind and solar installations around Texas and directly sell it to consumers at a fixed price. Clearly, someone doesn’t know how the grid works.

ERCOT manages the grid over most of Texas

Within most of the ERCOT grid, Transmission and Distribution Utilities (TDU) manage the electricity delivery system (power lines, transformers, etc.):

Areas not covered by TDU’s have municipal utilities, electric cooperatives or are served by investor-owned utilities.

When there’s a power outage in Dallas, Oncor fixes it, not ERCOT. However, we don’t actually purchase our electricity from ERCOT or Oncor, we purchase it from one of the multitude of Retail Electric Providers (REP), like TXU, Reliant, etc. We can purchase an all renewable plan; however, we’d get the exact same mix of electricity sources as everyone else in Oncor. 100% “green energy” plans are basically state-sponsored greenwashing scams.

Based on the OilPrice.com and NY Slimes articles, I have no idea what Shell is actually planning on doing. Are they going to be operating power plants? Building out renewable-only transmission lines? Becoming just one more retailer hawking green scams? Fortunately, the Houston Chronicle has a more coherent article.

Shell launches renewable power brand in Texas under a new branch of the company

Amanda Drane
Staff writer
June 7, 2022

Global oil major Shell on Tuesday said it is entering the residential electricity market in Texas, offering renewable power under a new branch of the company.

The launch of Shell Energy Solutions marks The Hague-based company’s entry into the U.S. power market, with perks for electric vehicle drivers and homeowners with solar panels.

The move is the latest step by the oil giant to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and reposition itself as a broader energy provider as the world transitions to cleaner fuels. It follows an announcement last week that it had bought Houston-based gas station and convenience store chain Landmark to provide charging stations and alternative motor fuels in the future.

Shell previously acquired The Woodlands-based MP2 Energy, a power retailer with 33,000 customers that will now carry the Shell Energy Solutions brand. 

“We’re excited about this entry into the residential electricity market and look forward to providing a suite of 100 percent renewable electricity plans to customers across the state,” said Glenn Wright, Shell’s vice president of renewables and energy solutions. 

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Houston Chronicle

So, we can add Shell Energy Solutions to the list of more than 70 retail electricity providers in Texas, most of which, if not all, already offer variations of green energy scams.

On becoming competitive with Europe… Why?

But while Big Oil has been dragging its feet on the renewable revolution on this side of the pond, European supermajors have seen the writing on the wall, and have made enormous advances in the field of clean energy that threatens to bury any competition from the U.S. once renewables become the norm and oil and gas slowly but surely become overshadowed and then obsolete. 

OilPrice.com

Really?

According to the EIA’s 2021 International Energy Outlook, fossil fuels will still account for about 70% of global primary energy consumption in 2050.

Previous posts on this subject

• Shell Goes Full BP
• Shell Goes Full BP – Part Deux