bp and Schneider Electric collaborate on low carbon energy
bp and Schneider Electric have signed an MoU to help decarbonise high-emission customers in the UK, EU, Australia and US.
Both companies intend to combine skills and capabilities to define and scale integrated energy solutions for cities and commercial and industrial customers in hard to abate sectors, such as high emission transportation and heavy industry.
They believe their complementary skills in consulting, designing, building, and operating decarbonised energy systems will help companies to achieve their decarbonisation targets. In addition, bp and Schneider Electric intend to explore business models to enable customers to lessen the complexity, risk and capital investment of decarbonization by operating such energy systems as a service.
William Lin, EVP, regions, cities and solutions, bp said: "Combining bp’s energy supply capabilities with Schneider Electric’s microgrid and energy management technologies means that together we can offer clean, efficient and resilient solutions to better meet our customers’ needs.”
bp brings together technologies and businesses including solar, wind (Fowler Wind Ridge Farm pictured), hydrogen, biofuels and electric vehicle charging, to provide innovative, integrated and decarbonised energy solutions at scale to help cities and large corporates reduce their carbon emissions.
The oil major is courting more partnerships as it strives to reduce carbon emissions, signing an MoU with Infosys to develop Energy as-a-Service (EaaS) offering that will provide end-to-end management of a customers' energy assets and services; leading The Northern Endurance Partnership, a joint venture between bp, Equinor, National Grid Ventures, Shell, and TotalEnergies; completing trials with Maersk using biofuel-blended marine fuel in product tankers; and planning a large-scale green hydrogen production facility in the North East of England that could deliver up to 500Mwe (megawatt electrical input) of hydrogen production by 2030.
Many of its customers are looking for innovation and expertise to help decarbonise their energy supply and demand systems, added Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President, Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric. “With bp, we’re committed to advancing technology solutions and addressing key markets together to help these customers reach net-zero faster.”
Schneider Electric will provide decarbonisation expertise and electricity 4.0 technologies to help design and operate critical or energy-intensive power systems. Schneider’s microgrid platform can integrate on-site renewable power, reliable backup systems including battery storage, electric vehicle infrastructure, and associated energy retail services.
Last month Schneider Electric, ranked the world’s most sustainable corporation 2021 by Corporate Knights, was named as a ‘Vendor Champion’ in the Canalys Channel Leadership Matrix for the third year in a row.
Canalys named APC an EMEA Channel Leadership Champion for its "consistently strong levels of account management, its commitments to partner-led business models, and for the quality of its technical support".
Speaking to Energy Digital last year, Natalya Makarochkina, Senior Vice President, Secure Power Division, International Operations at Schneider Electric, said it is still at the early stages of its transformation programme and aims to cut CO2 emissions among its top 1,000 suppliers by 50%.
"Future sustainability is key to us and we want to conserve our resources and protect our planet," she said. “One of the challenges is the multi-layered approach. Electricity is everywhere so we must have good software that connects the dots. Customers are not just looking at prices but partners that can reduce carbon.”
