BP abandons US wind farms as Trump shuns green energy
The FTSE 100 oil company said New York-based LS Power would buy BP Wind Energy North America, which has 10 operating onshore wind farms across the country.
The move is part of BP's plans to pivot back to its core oil and gas business in the hope of boosting its share price. The company has come under intense pressure from shareholders, including activist Elliott Adviers, to improve performance.
The exit from US wind also comes amid President Trump's latest assault on the renewables industry.
This week he announced that decisions related to solar and wind energy projects on federal lands will in future have to be approved by interior secretary Doug Burgum.
President Trump said the aim was to end what he calls preferential treatment for renewable energy sources, in line with his pledge to undo the clean energy and climate change policies of former president Joe Biden.
'Today's actions further deliver on President Trump's promise to tackle the green new scam and protect the American taxpayers' dollars,' Adam Suess, acting assistant secretary for lands and minerals management, said on Thursday.
Mr Trump has long been critical of turbines, derisively calling them 'windmills'.
He said in 2019: 'I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much. They're noisy. They kill the birds. You want to see a bird graveyard? Go under a windmill someday. You'll see more birds than you've ever seen in your life.'
In 2023, he said: 'Windmills are causing whales to die in numbers never seen before. No one does anything about that.'
Earlier this week, Mr Trump told the BBC that Aberdeen was 'the oil capital of Europe' and should 'get rid of the windmills'.
Market responds positively to wind exit
BP's move will therefore be seen as politically astute as well as fitting with its plan to divest $20bn worth of assets by 2027.
Its shares rose by about 2pc soon after the Friday morning announcement.
The US deal is expected to conclude by the end of the year, with BP suggesting it will have divested itself of $3-4bn of assets by then, with $1.5bn signed or completed to that date.
Earlier this month it agreed to sell its 300 Dutch petrol stations to Dutch fuel distribution and trading company Catom by the end of this year. It sold its Turkish petrol station network in 2023 and a sale process for its Austrian retail network is ongoing.
William Lin, BP vice-president for gas & low carbon energy, said: 'The onshore US wind business has great assets and fantastic people, but we have concluded we are no longer the best owners to take it forward.
'I am pleased we have reached a mutually beneficial deal with LS Power and I look forward to working with them to support our people in maintaining safe and reliable operations as we transition ownership.'
Paul Segal, chief executive of LS Power, said: 'These new assets will expand our renewable energy presence and help to meet growing energy demand across the US.'
Solar and wind accounted for the vast majority of new electricity generation added to the US grid last year despite President Trump's claims that they are unreliable and expensive.
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