The push for green power, announced just before the launch today by the British Government of its energy review, will renew the oil company’s green credentials by doubling spending over three years to $1.8 billion, with a major focus on wind power.

The investment plans are revealed at a sensitive time for the British oil industry, with energy companies accused of manipulating the natural gas market and expectations that the Chancellor will announce plans next week for increased taxes on North Sea oil companies.

Lord Browne of Madingley, BP’s chief executive, said yesterday that he supported a request from Ofgem, the energy markets regulator, that the European Commission investigate market distortions in the supply of gas to the UK.

In response to a question about the low level of imports from mainland Europe to the UK, Lord Browne said: “We are not a player in those markets. All I can say is they are somewhat opaque.”

Vivienne Cox, BP’s head of gas and trading, attributed the company’s low level of imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the new Isle of Grain terminal to scarce supplies: “We are not holding back gas. There is a worldwide shortage. LNG is like any other product. It goes to the places where prices are highest.”

A new business unit, BP Alternative Energy, will recruit several hundred staff and invest in solar cells, carbon sequestration projects, wind power in America and combined-cycle gas turbine power generators.

BP, which famously rebranded itself “Beyond Petroleum” in 2000, has lagged behind some others in the oil industry in spending on renewable energy. The new commitment of $1.8 billion will raise a political challenge to Shell, its rival, which has also promoted green energy and invested $1.5 billion in renewables, including a big push into wind power in Britain.

BP’s focus has been in solar energy and yesterday it said that the solar business had generated a profit for the first time.

Ms Cox, who will run BP Alternative Energy, said that solar manufacturing capacity would double with a view to tripling sales. A major focus will be the creation of a portfolio of wind turbines in America generating 200 megawatts by 2007. BP will concentrate investment on industrial sites inherited from Atlantic Richfield, the California-based oil company that it acquired in 1999. Ms Cox said, however, that renewables were still “policy-dependent”, meaning that a level of government subsidy was necessary.

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