The global oil industry is expanding investments in solar and energy storage

As more countries seek the energy transition, global oil companies spend billions of dollars each year on solar and energy storage
.
According to an analysis by Mercom Capital Group, of the 15 acquisitions involving the solar industry in the past two years, only five have invested more than $8 billion
.
Similarly, more than $240 million has been provided to solar companies in seven financing deals in the last two years
.

For battery storage investments, statistics show that 6 acquisitions were disclosed in the last two years, but the acquisition amount
was not disclosed.
Mercom said that during the same period, a total of seven financing transactions involving nearly $133 million
were completed.

Mercom said the oil industry's largest single investment in solar came from Germany's E.
U.
G.
$5.
8 billion acquisition of a 76.
8 percent stake
in renewable energy company Innogy in June 2018.
It was followed by France's Total, which invested $700 million in Direct Energie with a 74.
3%
stake.

The value of the largest investment in the battery storage industry from the oil industry has not been announced, but it is likely to be Shell's acquisition of Sonnen earlier this month
.
Battery storage company's largest financing business was a $70 million loan
from Shell to Sonnen in May 2018.

More oil companies are investing in
solar and battery storage.
Royal Dutch Shell bought a 44 percent stake in solar developer Silicon Ranch for $217 million, Chevron has invested in solar, BP spent $299 million to buy a 43 percent stake in Lightsource's 1.
4 gigawatt wind and solar portfolio, and Total Energy, which owns 56 percent of solar panel maker SunPower Ventures has invested about $160 million in 20
renewable energy startups, including solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

Not all oil companies' investments in solar make headlines
.
Earlier this month, Bakersfield-based oil producer E&B Natural Resources Management announced it was investing in photovoltaic solar to help its operations
in Kern and Santa Barbara counties.
The company plans to build a 23-megawatt DC solar installation
near Bakersfield.

"By integrating solar technology into E&B's oil and gas business, these projects demonstrate that renewable energy and oil production can provide Californians with reliable, low-cost and environmentally friendly energy," company president Steve Layton said
in a statement.

Some oil companies' investments are also upstream
in research and development.
In Brazil, national oil monopoly Petrobras signed a cooperation agreement with Centro de Inovacoes CSEM to develop materials
for the production of printed and flexible solar cells based on perovskite technology.
The $6 million investment aims to industrially produce solar films
using perovskite technology.