Lightsource bp supercharges solar growth

20/09/21 Australian Financial Review The solar power offshoot of British oil and gas giant bp has shrugged off grid bottleneck concerns and doubled its growth target in Australia after securing $US1.8 billion ($2.5 billion) in financing to accelerate its global expansion. Lightsource bp, Europe’s largest solar developer which is 50 per cent owned by the oil company, aims to develop at least 2 gigawatts of large-scale solar generation capacity in Australia by mid-decade, up from an earlier goal of 1 GW, said country manager Adam Pegg. Power from Lightsource bp’s Wellington solar farm in NSW is sold to Snowy Hydro.  Globally, the firm will use the funding to expand its 3.8 GW portfolio of developed solar projects to a massive 25 GW by 2025, likely to make it the world’s biggest solar developer and owner. Mr Pegg said Lightsource bp would also look to enter markets in Asia-Pacific supported by the…

Read More

ASDA ADDS MORE C-STORES TO PETROL STATIONS

More than 200 stores are coming to EG Group-owned fueling locations. September 08, 2021www.convenience.org LONDON—Asda on the Move convenience stores, owned by British supermarket Asda, are coming to nearly 230 petrol station forecourts owned by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, according to Reuters and BBC. The c-stores will be located at petrol stations controlled by EG Group, the brothers’ business. “Our plans to roll out Asda on the Move will bring Asda to new customers, enabling them to pick up food-to-go, essentials for an evening meal or treat themselves to premium Extra Special products from a range of convenient locations,” the Issa brothers said. The c-stores will be no more than 3,000 square feet and sell as many as 2,500 products, and EG Group will receive the products from Asda at a wholesale cost. In October 2020, NACS Daily reported that Walmart agreed to sell its stake in U.K. grocer Asda to Mohsin and Zuber…

Read More

DOORDASH DOUBLES DOWN ON CONVENIENCE

New feature lets shoppers buy from multiple nearby stores for single delivery By Jennifer Strailey on Aug. 06, 2021cspdailynews.com Photograph courtesy of DoorDash SAN FRANCISCO —  DoorDash may prove a triple threat to convenience stores and other retailers with its new DoubleDash. The new feature lets customers add their favorite items from nearby stores to an original order from select stores and, in some cases, restaurants for no additional delivery fee or order minimum. Both orders will arrive together and with the same Dasher, the company said of the service currently available with 7-Eleven, Wawa, QuickChek, Walgreens, The Ice Cream Shop and DashMart, as well as local restaurants in certain markets.  Here’s how it works: Customers place their restaurant order on DoorDash and after checkout, look for the DoubleDash option on the map to add items from nearby stores. From the store page, they can select drinks, snacks and a variety of grocery items. Shoppers then add all items to their cart and…

Read More

SENATE APPROVES $1T BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL

csnews.com The measure helps create a competitive market for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that will benefit convenience retailers. WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate voted 69-30 Tuesday to approve the $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The legislation allocates nearly $550 billion in new spending above what Congress was already planning to allocate for infrastructure over the next eight years. Lawmakers set aside the largest share of the money, $110 billion, for roads and bridges. The infrastructure bill also includes roughly: $73 billion for electric grid and power infrastructure $66 billion for passenger and freight rail $65 billion for broadband investments $55 billion for water systems and infrastructure $50 billion for western water storage $39 billion for public transit $25 billion for airports $21 billion for environmental remediation projects $17 billion for ports and waterways $15 billion for electric vehicles $11 billion for road safety It also includes an alternative…

Read More

7-ELEVEN PARTNERS WITH AUSTRALIA POST TO DOUBLE PARCEL LOCKER LOCATIONS

By Sarah Stowe | 09 Aug 2021executive.franchisebusiness.com.au Australia Post and 7-Eleven Australia are partnering to offer customers access to free all-hours parcel lockers at 7-Eleven stores across the country. The 24/7 service launches across more than 200 7-Eleven stores where the convenience chain’s ParcelMate lockers are already installed. Another 300 7-Eleven stores will receive Australia Post deliveries by the end of 2021. This is in addition to more than 500 existing Australia Post parcel locker locations in the network. The initiative will double the number of Australia Post parcel locker locations to more than 1000 giving customers more options for receiving their online shopping and parcels. The boost to locker locations comes as Australia Post’s latest Inside Australian Online Shopping eCommerce report reveals the volume of parcels increased almost 32 per cent over the 2020-21 financial year. More than 9 million households shop online, the postal service reports. Australia Post’s Nicole Sheffield, executive general manager community and consumer, said the partnership was timely. “Australia Post…

Read More

UBER EATS AND WOOLWORTHS TEAM UP FOR SAME-HOUR ‘TOP-UP’ GROCERY DELIVERY

·         DAVID SWAN TECHNOLOGY EDITOR @swan_legend As lockdowns continue to bite across the nation Woolworths and Uber Eats have teamed to make same-hour grocery delivery a reality, with a dozen Woolworths Metro locations available on the Uber Eats app from next week. The trial will see three stores from Melbourne and nine from Sydney take part in the trial with plans for the program to be rolled out to more than 200 stores in coming months. The stores include Balaclava, Hadfield and Hawthorn in Melbourne. In Sydney the Woolworths Metro stores include Bondi, Maroubra Beach, Padstow, Erskineville, Pyrmont, Randwick, Redfern, Rose Bay and Rozelle. Uber Eats executive Lucas Groeneveld said consumer demand for home delivery has spiked throughout the Covid pandemic, and grown even further during harsh lockdowns. “If you look at some of the numbers, as Sydney went into lockdown we saw a tripling in people searching for grocery…

Read More