Total Digs Deeper In US Solar Space With 2.2 GW Acquisition

• Total has acquired a portfolio of 4 solar energy projects with 2.2 GW combined capacity and co-located 600 MW of battery energy storage assets in the US
• This Texas located utility scale capacity is to come online between 2023 and 2024
• It will remunerate SunChase Power and MAP RE/ES in stages as the projects advance
• Clean energy generated by this portfolio will be used to power industrial sites in the country

Less than a month after French energy company Total took its 1^st significant step in the US utility scale solar market by announcing a joint venture with Hanwha subsidiary 174 Power Global for 1.6 GW solar and storage capacity, it has taken another big step here (see Total & Hanwha Announce Solar & Storage Partnership).

This time it has acquired a utility scale development pipeline of 4 solar energy projects representing a combined capacity of 2.2 GW, along with co-located 600 MW battery energy storage assets in Texas from utility scale renewable energy company SunChase Power and private energy investment firm MAP RE/ES.

The first of the 2 projects are likely to be constructed later in 2021 with commissioning deadline for all 4 projects targeted between 2023 and 2024. Total has not disclosed the transaction value of this deal but shared that remuneration will in staged payment as the projects advance.

The French company added that it has committed to a 1 GW corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) for solar power and energy storage portfolio in the country to cover all the electricity consumption of its operated industrial sites in the US including its refining and petrochemicals platform at Port Arthur and petrochemical sites at La Porte and Carville.

"With this latest acquisition, Total is now developing close to 4 GW of renewable power capacity in the U.S., thus contributing to our objective to reach close to 35 GW of renewable generation capacity by 2025. In addition, supplying green electricity to all our industrial activities in the United States is concrete proof of our ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050," said Total Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné.

Elsewhere in the world, Total has been expanding its reach in the markets of India with the acquisition of a 20% stake in Adani Group's renewable energy arm AGEL that also brings it a seat on the board of directors (see India PV News Snippets: AGEL, Total, EDF). Spain is another market that Total is eyeing keenly. Here in September 2020, it signed an agreement with Ignis to develop 3.3 GW PV capacity to power its industrial sites with green electricity by 2025 (see Total Getting Serious About Solar PV In Spain).