Shell launched a new green power business for homes across Texas on Tuesday, aiming to lure customers with plans including free charging for electric vehicles during off-peak hours and credit for excess solar power homeowners export to the grid.
The new U.S. retail brand called Shell Energy Solutions builds on Shell's 2017 acquisition of MP2 Energy, a commercial and residential power retailer with about 33,000 customers.
Texas, whose power grid is largely isolated from the rest of the country to avoid certain federal regulations, is the largest energy producer and biggest consumer in the United States.
Shell, which still spends the majority of its investments on oil and gas, wants to expand in power trading to underpin its strategy to become a net zero carbon company by 2050.
Shell has invested in wind farm and solar developers that are building renewables projects producing about 13 gigawatts per year in Texas and elsewhere in the United States.
Shell will also buy renewables certificates from other producers to back its retail business in Texas, a company spokesperson said.
The renewable plans will be offered to customers in competitive areas of the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, a network that supplies power to more than 26 million consumers across 8 million residential meters.
Shell already offers power to residential customers in the United States through non-Shell branded businesses Inspire and Pulse Energy.