TotalEnergies commissions its largest utility-scale photovoltaic plants with batteries in the United States

TotalEnergies (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE) has started commercial operations of Danish Fields and Cottonwood, two utility-scale solar farms with integrated battery storage located in southeast Texas. These new projects, with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW, are part of a portfolio of renewable assets totaling 4 GW in operation or under construction in Texas.

Danish Fields is TotalEnergies’ largest solar farm in the United States, with a capacity of 720 MWp and 1.4 million ground-mounted photovoltaic panels. Danish Fields also features a 225 MWh battery storage system supplied by Saft, the battery subsidiary of TotalEnergies.

70% of Danish’s solar capacity has been contracted through long-term Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) signed with industry players like Saint-Gobain, featuring an upside sharing mechanism indexed on merchant price.

The remaining 30% will support the decarbonization of TotalEnergies’ industrial plants in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Along with Myrtle Solar which was commissioned in 2023 and the under-construction Hill 1 solar farm, these three projects will cover the electricity consumption of TotalEnergies’ industrial sites in Port Arthur and La Porte in Texas, and Carville in Louisiana.

Cottonwood has a capacity of 455 MWp featuring over 847,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels. The site will also feature 225 MWh of battery storage supplied by Saft, scheduled for commissioning in 2025. Cottonwood’s electricity production is contracted under long-term PPAs indexed to merchant prices through an upside-sharing mechanism with LyondellBasell and Saint-Gobain, to support their decarbonization efforts.

“The start-ups of Danish Fields and Cottonwood in the fast-growing ERCOT market showcase TotalEnergies’ ability to deliver competitive renewable electricity to support our clients’ decarbonization goals, as well as our own. Thanks to these projects, we are delighted to take another step in delivering our strategy across the entire value chain, from power generation to customer delivery, in order to achieve our profitability target of 12% ROACE in our Integrated Power business”, said Olivier Jouny, Senior Vice President, Renewables at TotalEnergies.

As part of its ambition to get to net zero by 2050, TotalEnergies is building a world class cost-competitive portfolio combining renewables (solar, onshore and offshore wind) and flexible assets (CCGT, storage) to deliver clean firm power to its customers. Mid-2024, TotalEnergies’ gross renewable electricity generation installed capacity was 24 GW. TotalEnergies will continue to expand this business to reach 35 GW in 2025 and more than 100 TWh of net electricity production by 2030.

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, more sustainable, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in nearly 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.