Big oil follows Silicon Valley into backing green energy firms

Bloomberg

Major oil companies are joining Silicon Valley in backing energy-technology start-ups, a signal that those with the deepest pockets in the industry are casting around for a new strategy.
From Royal Dutch Shell Plc to Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest investor-owned oil companies are dribbling money into ventures probing the edge of energy technologies. The investments go beyond wind and solar power into projects that improve electricity grids and brew new fuels from renewable resources.
While the money involved is small — a fraction of the $7.5 billion that venture capital and private equity injected into the clean energy industry last year — the funds support work that may evolve into major income streams in the decades ahead as governments work to limit fossil-fuel pollution and global warming. Following is a list of the projects the biggest oil companies are supporting:

SHELL TECHNOLOGY VENTURES
The unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc splits its spending between oil and gas technology and clean energy equally. The green share may increase to about 60 percent in the years ahead, according to van de Wouw, declining to detail his annual budget. The fund’s total size is “hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said. It has put money into:
Kite Power Systems, a maker of a kite that flies on wind currents to generate renewable electricity. Glasspoint Solar Inc, a company that has developed a way to make steam for enhanced oil recovery with solar energy. Sense, a start-up that creates devices that monitor home power consumption.
TOTAL ENERGY VENTURES
INTERNATIONAL SAS
The unit of the French oil major Total SA has invested $160 million to date with almost three quarters flowing into North America, according to the fund’s CEO Francois Badoual. It only takes minority stakes. It has invested in: AutoGrid, a California-based company that designs smart-grid software United Wind, a company that leases wind turbines to retail customers and small businesses. Off Grid Electric, a Tanzania-based installer of rooftop solar panels that works in low energy-access areas in Sub-Saharan Africa.

BP VENTURES INC
BP Plc’s VC fund has invested $325 million to date. It tends to skew more towards chemicals or fuels, rather than renewable electricity. It has funneled money into: Tricoya Technologies, a maker of a technology that changes the chemical structure of wood chips to make a building material that’s more durable and energy efficient. Fulcrum, a producer of bio-jet fuel made from municipal waste, which raised $30 million from BP.

EXXON MOBIL CORP
Exxon has a different approach to frontier technology. It prefers to conduct research internally and with partners rather than buy minority stakes in start-ups. It’s studying biofuels, carbon capture and storage, energy-efficiency processes and energy-saving materials, according to spokesman William Holbrook.

CHEVRON CORP
Chevron has been investing in start-ups since 1999 and divides its portfolio between oil and gas, advanced materials, communications infrastructure and information technologies and emerging and alternative energy. On the latter, it has invested in the following: Acumentrics, a fuel cell company that can make its products from ceramics. Ensyn, a maker of fuels and chemicals from residue from forests and agriculture. Inventys, a developer of carbon capture technology that traps CO2 from
industrial gas streams.

STATOIL ENERGY VENTURES
The unit of Norway’s state oil company, Statoil ASA, has invested $20 million since February 2016. It only funds renewable start-ups, listing among its investment themes wind, solar, storage, transportation, energy efficiency and smart grids. To date, it has put money into: ChargePoint Inc., an electric-vehicle charging point operator based in California. Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd., a solar technology company that is developing panels with perovskite. The substance could make traditional photovoltaics as much as 30 percent more efficient.