Lightsource and bp celebrate five-year anniversary

22 December 2022, London: December 2022, marks five years since bp and Lightsource entered into a partnership to become Lightsource bp – a 50:50 joint venture between the companies.

The ambition was to turn Lightsource Renewable Energy – as it was known then – into a global leader, accelerating the impact of solar power around the world.

Since the partnership began late 2017, Lightsource bp has created 720 more jobs, growing from 280 colleagues to 1,000. It’s expanded its global footprint from 5 to 19 countries.

“We partnered with bp because we thought all the things that had seen them succeed in the energy sector for 100 years could also propel Lightsource, and solar power, into the mainstream. We were right. Lightsource bp has been transformed by our partnership enabling us to accelerate solar’s global growth, and we’re just getting started,” said Nick Boyle, group CEO.

“Solar’s place at the centre of the energy transition has been undisputed for some time. Now we are taking a seat at the top table earlier than many expected by going beyond business as usual. Thanks to this partnership and our amazing people, we can deliver secure, reliable and affordable power at the pace and scale the world needs,” he added.

Anja-Isabel Dotzenrath, bp’s executive vice president of gas and low carbon energy, added: “Lightsource bp’s growth demonstrates just how much can be delivered by working together. And that’s all just in five short years. This incredible partnership is capable of delivering so much more – and that’s exactly what we intend to do. We will continue to deploy more clean energy, in more places, for more people.”

In 2021, Lightsource bp set an industry-leading ambition to develop 25GW of solar by 2025 – enough to power all the homes in New York, London and Melbourne combined. Having recently closed deals in Australia and Trinidad & Tobago.

The pandemic created fresh headwinds with supply chain disruption and travel restrictions adding pressure on top of the personal challenges that COVID-19 created for so many. The solar industry is no stranger to disruption of all stripes and Lightsource bp was able to continue growing deployment at a rate of 50% a year and onboarded hundreds of new staff during the crisis.

The solar industry is assuming a central role in efforts to tackle climate change with Lightsource bp well-placed to make a major contribution as one of the sector’s leaders. Its deals support governments, corporations and utilities in their effort to decarbonise economies, businesses and power grids around the world.