Royal Dutch Shell PLC is acquiring Savion LLC, a U.S.-based company with 18 GW of utility-scale solar and battery projects under development and operations in 26 states.

The deal by Shell subsidiary Shell New Energies US LLC will help the oil giant expand its nascent electricity business and move toward a goal it set in 2017 to fully decarbonize by 2050. The acquisition price was not disclosed. It is acquiring Savion from the Macquarie Green Investment Group, which is owned by an Australian bank.

Noting that the U.S. is the world's third-largest solar energy market, Shell said it expects to sell fossil-free electricity to more than 15 million retail and business customers worldwide by the end of the decade. Such an expansion would double the company's electricity sales.

Over the past several years, Shell has acquired stakes in several solar companies, including Silicon Ranch in the U.S. and developers in Asia and Europe. The Savion deal announced Dec. 14 "is another important milestone as we expand our global renewable power business," Shell tweeted. "More and cleaner energy."

Shell is under a landmark Dutch court order to slash its emissions by 45% by 2030, a ruling that prompted the company to speed up efforts to reduce emissions. Shell announced in October that it will cut its carbon pollution in half by 2030 below 2016 levels, a goal that does not include so-called Scope 3 emissions from the oil that it sells.

But Shell also pledged to appeal the Dutch court ruling, which ordered the company to cut Scope 3 emissions by as much as 45%. Those emissions make up more than 90% of Shell's emissions.

Oil companies are under growing pressure from investors to either reinvent themselves as fossil fuel-free businesses or lose financial support.

Shell CEO Ben van Beurden maintained that oil companies will continue to play a part in the global economy and criticized a decision by the United Nations COP26 climate conference in early December to not invite representatives from the oil industry.

In an October strategy outlining for investors how it will transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, Shell said it aims by 2030 to operate 2.5 million electric vehicle charging stations, sell 10% hydrogen and biofuel transport fuel, and significantly expand carbon capture and storage at its industrial facilities. It also plans to end routine flaring of natural gas at production sites by 2025 to help reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

The oil company allocated between $2 billion and $3 billion for renewable and "energy solutions" projects for 2021, under which the acquisition of Savion falls. That compares with about $16 billion it earmarked for investments in its traditional oil, gas and products businesses along with $3 billion for marketing.

"Shell agrees with the International Energy Agency that fossil fuels will continue to be part of the global energy mix for decades to come, even as societies transition to lower-carbon energy sources," Gretchen Watkins, president of Shell's U.S. business told the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform in October. "For this reason, Shell will continue to explore for and develop fossil fuel energy sources."

The company said it will need to use tree planting and other nature-based solutions to offset about 120 million metric tons of Scope 3 emissions by 2030.