BP Amoco PLC announced that it is buying an 18.5% share in GreenMountain.com, a marketer of cleaner and renewable energy products, for an undisclosed amount.
BP Amoco hopes that, by using big-company muscle in conjunction with GreenMountain, which concentrates on "green" energy products, it can expand the market for competitively priced renewable energy for use in businesses and households across the US. The move is also aimed at boosting sales of clean energy products such as natural gas, both as a primary fuel and as gas-fueled power.
GreenMountain's business focuses on renewable energy sources and natural gas. The firm is already a leading marketer of "cleaner electricity" to consumers in the deregulated states of California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, said BP Amoco.
GreenMountain sells through the internet and other media "environmentally friendly" electricity and other energy products. Buyers can purchase renewable solar, wind, hydroelectric, or geothermal power, as well as power generated from burning natural gas.
BP Amoco will market and promote GreenMountain's solar energy offerings using BP Solarex's solar technology, products, and services. And BP Amoco will have an exclusive agreement to market GreenMountain's energy product range to industrial and commercial customers.
"By harnessing their expertise in energy markets and their experience in selling to large businesses, we can continue to build the GreenMountain Energy brand across the US, said GreenMountain CEO Dennis W. Kelly.
"We are greatly extending product availability and market presence by including large industrial customers and offering them a distinctive green choice to meet their energy needs," said Anne Quinn, group vice-president of BP Amoco's gas and power business in the Americas. "They will be able to buy greener, cleaner energy [at] close to the same cost as electricity fueled by other sources, thereby increasing the demand for renewable and environmentally responsible power."
Both companies will enter into strategic supply arrangements for electricity and natural gas. BP Amoco will provide GreenMountain with risk-management products and technical assistance, and the companies will share each other's e-business learnings and web presence.
