Shell adds to renewable-energy plan

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Anglo-Dutch oil and natural gas producer, is expanding its investment in renewable energy.

Shell’s North American unit agreed to provide a credit line for trading and a revolving credit facility to Inspire Energy Holdings LLC, according to a statement Wednesday. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based clean-power, smarthome and energy-management company will use the funds to expand its reach. Terms weren’t disclosed.

With oil demand sluggish at best, Shell is taking steps to diversify beyond its core fossil fuel operations. The company agreed in January to buy a 44 percent stake in Nashville-based Silicon Ranch Corp., which owns and operates about 100 U.S. solar plants. A month earlier, Shell agreed to buy First Utility Ltd., the U.K.’s seventh-largest power provider. And that followed deals last year for electric-car charging networks.

The Inspire deal is “further confirmation that it is taking the risks to long-term oil demand seriously amid accelerating electrification of the transport industry and emerging policy pressures to de-carbonize global energy,” Will Hares, a London-based analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, said in an interview.

Shell has announced plans to spend as much as $2 billion a year for what it calls “new energies.” BP Plc has allocated about $500 million a year.