Total has signed a corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) with telecoms operator Orange that will allow for the development for 12 solar projects in France.
It is expected the plants will have a combined capacity of 80MW and be operational by 2024. Total will then annually supply Orange with 100GWh of renewable electricity over 20 years.
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Orange has a target of integrating 50% renewables into its electricity mix by 2025 and then reaching net zero carbon by 2040.
Stéphane Michel, who was this week appointed president of Total’s gas, renewables and power segment, said the oil major is aiming to support large industrial customers in their energy transition towards carbon neutrality.
“By signing with Orange one of the largest corporate PPA in France to date, Total is asserting itself as a strategic supplier of renewable electricity. This is a new step in the implementation of our profitable growth strategy in renewable energies,” he said.
A recent report from BloombergNEF found that Total was second only to Amazon in terms of corporate clean energy purchasing 2020. While Amazon announced 35 separate clean energy PPAs globally in 2020, amounting to 5.1GW, Total was next with 3GW.
After revealing plans last year to become net zero by 2050 and have a 25GW renewables portfolio by 2025, Total has ramped up its solar deployment efforts through the acquisition of 20% a stake in Indian developer Adani Green Energy and the purchase of a 2.2GW pipeline of assets in Texas.
The company, through its Total Quadran subsidiary, also secured 50MW of solar in France’s ninth auction for ground-based PV that saw 452MWp awarded in total.