Shell agrees to buy Next Kraftwerke, adding to virtual power plant portfolio

Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary Shell Overseas Investments BV agreed to acquire 100% of virtual power plant operator Next Kraftwerke GmbH from its consortium of shareholders.

Next Kraftwerke remotely connects and manages over 10,000 decentralized energy units across eight countries in mainland Europe: Germany, Belgium, Austria, France, Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy.

These units, which include solar, bioenergy and hydropower plants, produce electricity that is traded on the wholesale electricity markets on behalf of Next Kraftwerke's customers.

Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to complete during the second quarter, according to a Feb. 25 news release.

Shell said the acquisition will help it meet its aim to sell around 560 TWh of electricity a year by 2030, twice as much as it sells today.

"The acquisition of Next Kraftwerke will accelerate Shell's strategy to grow by adding smaller renewable assets to our portfolio. The complementary skills of the two companies will also support utility scale large renewable projects by providing a wide range of hedging and risk management options," David Wells, vice president of Shell Energy Europe, said.

Shell previously bought sonnen GmbH in Germany in February 2019 and Limejump Ltd. in the U.K. in March 2019 — both of which also operate virtual power plants.