* BP asks U.S. regulators to set up retail power business
* BP Retail Energy would mark BP's entry into the sector
* BP plans to vastly expand power business
By Ron Bousso and Chris Prentice
LONDON/WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - BP has
applied to supply U.S. residential customers with electricity
generated from wind, solar and natural gas, betting on a rapid
growth in power demand as economies shift away from fossil fuels
to battle climate change.
BP wants to supply electricity in California, Illinois,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas in its first foray into the retail
power business, according to an April 20 filing with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seen by Reuters.
The British company has no retail energy trading business
but is one of the largest North American power traders,
supplying wholesale customers such as power generators and
cities with gas, renewable energy and storage.
A new subsidiary called BP Retail Energy will supply the
power, going head-to-head with utilities that are under growing
pressure from investors and governments to cut carbon emissions.
"BP Energy Retail is a retail energy marketing company that
intends to sell electricity products directly to commercial and
industrial customers and residential customers," the filing
said.
BP declined to comment.
The filing listed the sources of electricity generation BP
Retail Energy is affliated with. They were BP's U.S. onshore
wind farms, solar power plants and its natural gas plant in
Whiting, Indiana.
BP has set out plans to increase its renewable power
capacity 20-fold while reducing its oil output by 40% by 2030 to
slash its greenhouse gas emissions.
Its plans rely in large part on expanding its customer base
for fuels, electric vehicle charging and convenience stores. It
has not said publicly it would set up a retail power business.
European rivals including Royal Dutch Shell and
France's Total are also targeting fast growth in the
retail power sector as they move away from oil and gas.
Shell's retail business has focused on Britain while Total
has built a large portfolio in France and northwest Europe.
BP generates renewable power in the United States through
several onshore wind farms and Lightsource BP, a solar developer
in which it holds a 50% stake. BP is also developing offshore
wind farms with Norway's Equinor off the east coast.
BP wants to boost its renewable power generation from about
3.3 gigawatts (GW) in 2020 to 50 GW in 2030 and ramp up the
volume of electricity it trades from 214 terawatt-hours (TWh) a
year to 500 twh over the same period.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by David Clarke)
