BP Sells Wind Farm Assets in India

BP just announced that they have sold their wind farm in India today, just another sign of BP’s efforts to diminish their internationally holdings in the renewable energy sector. BP also recently disbanded their London renewable energy headquarters saying they would begin to concentrate all their renewable energy efforts on wind energy in the United States.

The deal involved BP selling three of their fully functioning wind farms to Green Infra Limited for roughly £61m. All three farms, located in India, have now been acquired by the independent energy provider which is privately owned and operated,

Although BP has sold off their wind interests in India, the company stated that they will continue with their solar projects in the country and has no intention of foregoing their petrol industry firms in India either. BP currently has over 1,500 employees working in India and continues to be a dominant player in the Indian petrol and solar markets.

BP has fallen under criticism after Tony Hayward took over for John Browne in 2007, and the company has begun decreasing their renewable energy assets and increased their holdings in more carbon-intensive assets including tar sands. Although Hayward and BP have said the company has no made any changes in their direction claiming that the sales are just an attempt to ride out the worst of the recent recession.

The company has, however, been establishing a dominant role in the U.S. wind energy market, now holding over 1,000 MW in existing wind generating capacity. In all, BPs US wind energy holdings will amount to 100 projects, including existing and planned projects, which will total 20,000 MW of harnessed wind power.