BP is to invest £200 million in solar developer Lightsource over there years. It will acquire 43% of the company over that time, the company will be renamed Lightsource BP and BP will have two seats on the board of directors.
Announcing the the partnership, the two companies said the great majority of the investment would fund Lightsource’s worldwide growth pipeline.
Nick Boyle, group CEO and founder of Lightsource, said: “We founded Lightsource to lead the solar revolution and chose to partner with BP because, like us, their ambition is to build and grow this company for the long-term.”
Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive said: “We’re excited to be coming back to solar, but in a new and very different way. While our history in the solar industry was centred on manufacturing panels, Lightsource BP will instead grow value through developing and managing major solar projects around the world.”
Dev Sanyal, BP’s chief executive of alternative energy, told the FT there was potential for BP to integrate renewables and natural gas assets with its power trading business to deepen the group’s role in the electricity supply chain.