- TotalEnergies will build several ground-mounted solar PV installations with 160 MW combined capacity in France’s New Caledonia
- Along with 340 MWh energy storage capacity, power generated will be supplied to PRNC for its industrial operations
- Most of this capacity will be located on property owned by the Grand Sud hydrometallurgical plant
- Entire project will cover close to 2/3rd of the site’s electricity needs with initial capacity of 30 MW due to come online in 2023
French energy giant TotalEnergies will build 160 MW of new solar PV capacity along with 340 MWh of battery energy storage capacity in New Caledonia, France for nickel and cobalt mining and metallurgy consortium Prony Resources New Caledonia (PRNC). It supplies these metals for use in batteries for electric vehicles (EV) with one of its clients being EV maker Tesla.
TotalEnergies will build several ground-based solar PV systems between 2022 and 2025 with a total installed capacity of 160 MW with most of this capacity to come up on property owned by the Grand Sud hydrometallurgical plant. Initial capacity of 30 MW is expected to come online in 2023.
Decarbonized power generated by the entire capacity will be purchased by PRNC under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for its industrial operations. All of it is expected to cover close to 2/3rd of the site’s electricity needs while strengthening PRNC’s carbon neutrality target to be achieved by 2040. In July 2021, PRNC said it plans to get a 200 MW renewable energy plant with energy storage capacity installed to power its operations in New Caledonia.
“With this long-term partnership, we are demonstrating that it is possible to support industrial activity in New Caledonia and participate in a sustainable development approach at the same time,” said TotalEnergies Renewables France CEO Thierry Muller.
TotalEnergies has an ambitious roadmap towards becoming net zero by 2050 with the help of 35 GW of gross production capacity coming from renewable energy (mainly solar and wind energy) and storage by 2025, expanding to 100 GW by 2030. At the end of September 2021, its gross renewable electricity generation capacity was 10 GW.
