BP invests $1.5 billion in renewables

According to popular psychology, you should live each day like it’s your last. If that’s the case, Greenbang has just spent her last day on earth leafing through BP’s last set of financial results. A little depressing, you might think, but every cloud and all that: there was a whole host of dirty great info on what the oil giant is up to in the field of renewables.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then Greenbang will begin.

BP has invested $1.5 billion in alternative energy since its launched its green energy arm, and plans to put the same amount again into it by the end of this year, up from $1.1 billion in 2007 and a mere $0.6 billion in 2006.

BP will have 3GW of gross wind power capacity by the end of 2010. To date, it’s invested $0.8 billion, and will be investing another $0.6 billion in wind this year and there’s a wind development pipeline of over 15GW ahead.

Its solar business is expanding and the oil giant expects to sell 800MW-ish in 2010. vested $150 million in solar last year, a figure it will double by 2008, and its solar sales are expected to grown by over 60 percent a year.

On the biofuels, hydrogen and CCS (carbon capture and storage, not the Brazilian band) front, it’s a little more hazy. BP just says there are “some major projects” in the works, which makes it sounds a little like Prince talking about his latest album.

Greenbang tracks the explosion of the environmental industry, reporting on news of green innovation and thought leadership.

We blog on this rather than the environmental problems of the world because we are interested in the answers to climate change.