French energy group TotalEnergies is quickly strengthening its renewables business globally with a renewable energy projects partnership in Algeria with Sonatrach, solar assets acquisition in Romania and commissioning the ‘largest’ PV plant in Île-de-France.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state-owned oil company, recently entered an agreement with TotalEnergies to study the development of renewable projects to solarize hydrocarbon exploration and production sites in the country, as well as to supply seawater desalination stations.

The duo will also work on a renewable and low-carbon hydrogen production project for export purposes. A research and development program in low-carbon energies and energy transition is also in the pipeline.

In Europe too, TotalEnergies is expanding its solar portfolio as last week it acquired 208 MW solar PV capacity in Romania from PNE AG. The latter will be responsible for the project development of these 5 assets till they reach ready-to-build (RTB) stage.

On its home turf, TotalEnergies has commissioned what it says is the largest solar power plant in Île-de-France on the Grandpuits site with 25 MW capacity. The Grandpuits Solar PV Project can generate 31 GWh annually with the help of 46,000 solar panels on trackers.

Along with the solar power plant, the location is now home to a lithium-ion battery energy storage facility with 43 MWh capacity. Installed by its subsidiary Saft, the storage facility and the solar project are part of TotalEnergies’ strategy to transform the Grandpuits refinery into a ‘multi-energy, oil-free platform’.

“The Grandpuits solar power plant and its energy storage system are a fine example of our commitment to renewable energies in France and our ability to develop associated electricity storage solutions,” said Director of Total Renewable Energies France, Thierry Muller.

TotalEnergies is converting its Grandpuits platform into a zero-crude platform from 2024 to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), renewable diesel and renewable naphtha.

As it targets to achieve 35 GW renewable energy and storage capacity by 2025 scaling up to 100 GW by 2030, TotalEnergies has achieved 18 GW as of mid-2023. It means there is still a long way for it to go and, quickly.

Recently, the French company said for its 1 GW solar power plant in Iraq, it will invite Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power to come on board. The proposed project was announced in 2021 to supply electricity to the Basrah region grid in Iraq (see TotalEnergies For 1 GW Solar PV In Iraq).