Spanish oil company Repsol has announced that it has acquired a stake in Ampere Energy, a Valencia-based manufacturer of residential energy storage batteries, to expand its business in the renewable energy sector.
The battery maker said on Wednesday it had not provided details on the size of the stake, but Repsol would have a seat on Ampere Energy’s board.
The investment includes a collaboration agreement between AmpereEnergy and Repsol Technology Labs, which will see the two companies work together to develop innovative solutions in the field of energy storage and management.
According to the company’s website, AmpereEnergy designs, develops and manufactures storage systems that use artificial intelligence to manage the energy generated by solar panels, analyze electricity market prices and user consumption patterns. Its decorative spherical battery is suitable for moderate energy consumers and can store between 3 kWh and 6 kWh.
This is yet another move by a European oil major to invest in renewable energy and energy storage. Global oil companies spend billions of dollars each year on solar energy and energy storage as more and more countries seek energy transitions.
According to an analysis by Mercom Capital Group, six acquisitions have been disclosed for battery storage investments in the past two years, but no acquisition amounts have been disclosed. During the same period, Mercom said it closed seven financing deals involving nearly $133 million.
The value of the largest investment in the battery storage industry from Stone has not been disclosed, but it is likely to be the acquisition of Sonnen by Dutch Shell earlier this month. The battery storage company’s largest financing operation was Shell’s $70 million loan to Sonnen in May 2018.
More oil companies are making solar and battery storage investments. Royal Dutch Shell bought a 44 percent stake in solar developer SiliconRanch for $217 million, Chevron has invested in solar, and BP paid $299 million for a 43 percent stake in Lightsource’s 1.4 gigawatt wind and solar portfolio , while Total Energy Ventures, which owns a 56 percent stake in solar panel maker SunPower, has invested about $160 million in 20 renewable energy startups including solid-state lithium-ion batteries.
