BP has agreed to raise its stake in the solar developer Lightsource BP to 50 per cent.
The rest of the business will continue to be owned by the management team and staff. BP acquired a 43 per cent share in the company in December 2017.
Lightsource chief executive Nick Boyle said: “When we first announced this partnership two years ago, we made our mission very clear – that together we want to accelerate the growth of solar power worldwide and help drive the solar revolution.
“Although we have already made huge strides forward in both the size and number of our projects and have rapidly expanded our global footprint, there is still so much more we can do together.”
Dev Sanyal, chief executive of alternative energy at BP, said: “BP is committed to helping meet the world’s rapidly growing demand for low carbon energy. Solar, which is predicted to increase by a factor of 10 by 2040, plays a key role in this energy transition. That is why we want to invest more in Lightsource BP and to deepen our partnership.”
The proceeds of the transaction, which have not been disclosed, will be available for Lightsource to invest. The company is now operating in 13 countries across Europe, the Americas and Australia, and has a development pipeline of 12GW.