Netherlands based oil giant Shell is reportedly planning to announce a €200m investment in The Hague, to develop a new campus on the site of its current headquarters. Citing reliable sources, the oil company simultaneously wants to create jobs through its New Energies division, which will also be headquartered in The Hague and expand its operations on the Carel van Bylandtlaan.
According to reports, the New Energies arm revolves around developing commercial models that will be based on new forms of producing energy, including wind and solar power, and new fuels for transport. Through acquisitions and organic growth, the New Energies division has purportedly added 150 jobs in the Netherlands alone over the past two years.
Maarten Wetselaar, a board member of Shell, mentioned in a statement that the company expects the number of jobs in New Energies to grow to between 500 and 700 within five years. Another source close to the matter said that the company may soon announce its plans to strengthen its research and development activities in Amsterdam, where more than 1,000 researchers and engineers are based.
Apparently, Shell’s announcement of the expansion program coincided the discussion about the Dutch business climate and the resolution to scrap the dividend tax. Incidentally, a press release by Shell depicts that the company has been in favor of abolishing the dividend tax.
The Netherlands is poised to become a hub for Shell’s new energy activities, and the company is supposedly focused on increasing its wind energy activities and investing further in hydrogen solutions. Records show that in 2016, Shell had won contracts with partners Van Oord, Eneco and MHI Vestas for a large offshore wind farm to be located off the Borssele coast.
The company website also claims that by 2020, Shell is looking to pour nearly $1 billion to $2 billion in New Energies division worldwide out of its total annual investment budget of around $25 billion.