Shell to buy Inspire Energy Capital, expanding renewable power business in the United States

HOUSTON, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shell New Energies US LLC (Shell), a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc, has signed an agreement to buy 100% of the equity interests of Inspire Energy Capital LLC (Inspire), a renewable energy residential retailer with joint headquarters in Santa Monica, CA and Philadelphia, PA.

This acquisition advances Shell's Powering Progress strategy to build and scale renewable and low-carbon businesses with a target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society.

"Our goal is to become a major provider of renewable and low-carbon energy, and this acquisition moves us a step closer to achieving that," said Elisabeth Brinton, Executive Vice President of Renewables & Energy Solutions at Shell. "This deal instantly expands our business-to-consumer power offerings in key regions in the U.S., and we are well-positioned to build on Inspire's advanced digital capabilities to allow more households to benefit from renewable and low-carbon energy."

Inspire offers renewable energy to customers via a variety of innovative services and subscription plans and incentivizes customers to manage energy usage via a rewards program within its mobile app. The acquisition accelerates Shell's digital ambitions in the power sector by utilizing data-driven, digitally enabled platforms to simplify customers' decarbonization journeys.

Achieving Shell's net-zero emissions target could mean that Shell doubles the amount of electricity sold and provides enough renewable electricity to power 50 million households by 2030. Subject to regulatory clearance and the satisfaction of closing conditions, the deal is expected to be completed by Q4 of 2021.

Notes to editors

• Shell Energy North America has been an early energy supplier to Inspire since 2017.
• Inspire will augment Shell's existing position as a power supplier to residential customers in the U.S. alongside MP2 Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell Energy North America.
• Inspire currently serves approximately 235,000 residential customers in Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC.
• Subject to regulatory clearance and the satisfaction of closing conditions, Inspire will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, operating under its existing brand within our Renewables & Energy Solutions integrated power business.
• On February 11, 2021, Shell set forth its Powering Progress strategy, including details of how it will achieve its target to be a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society's progress as it works towards the Paris Agreement goal of limiting the increase in the average global temperature to 1.5°C.
• For more details on Shell's Powering Progress strategy, please visit www.shell.com/poweringprogress
• For more details on Shell's climate target, please visit www.shell.com/climatetarget

Cautionary note

The companies in which Royal Dutch Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement "Shell", "Shell Group" and "Group" are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" are also used to refer to Royal Dutch Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ''Subsidiaries'', "Shell subsidiaries" and "Shell companies" as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Royal Dutch Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. Entities and unincorporated arrangements over which Shell has joint control are generally referred to as "joint ventures" and "joint operations", respectively.  Entities over which Shell has significant influence but neither control nor joint control are referred to as "associates". The term "Shell interest" is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.  

This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Royal Dutch Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Royal Dutch Shell to market risks and statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "aim", "ambition", ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''could'', ''estimate'', ''expect'', ''goals'', ''intend'', ''may'', ''objectives'', ''outlook'', ''plan'', ''probably'', ''project'', ''risks'', "schedule", ''seek'', ''should'', ''target'', ''will'' and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Royal Dutch Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell's products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak; and (n) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Royal Dutch Shell's Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 (available at www.shell.com/investor and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader.  Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, July 27, 2021. Neither Royal Dutch Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement. 

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC.  Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.  

Shell's operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, Shell's operating plans, outlooks, budgets and pricing assumptions do not reflect our net-zero emissions target. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell's operating plans, outlooks, budgets and pricing assumptions to reflect this movement.  

Also, in this announcement, we may refer to Shell's "Net Carbon Footprint", which includes Shell's carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers' carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers' carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the term Shell's "Net Carbon Footprint" is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell or its subsidiaries. 

SOURCE Shell Oil Company