French energy major TotalEnergies has installed more than 200MW of distributed solar assets in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, following its competition of a 6MWp rooftop project in Vietnam.
This project was developed in conjunction with Chin Well Fasteners, a carbon steel fastener provider. TotalEnergies developed the solar array, and signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the fastener provider, which will now meet around 30% of its electricity demand with clean energy. Deals such as this are typical of TotalEnergies’ work in the region, with the company now operating solar assets in conjunction with more than 190 business-to-business customers across nine countries in the APAC region.
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“I am pleased to achieve this milestone in a region full of opportunities,” said Elodie Renaud, director of TotalEnergies Renewables Distributed Generation Asia, who noted that the company aims to install 2GW of decentralised solar capacity in the area.
“This showcases our capacity to deploy projects across different geographies and industries, and highlights the appeal of our solutions for both local and global companies across APAC, providing them with a solution for reliable, cost-effective and clean energy,” added Renaud.
The milestone is a significant development for both TotalEnergies in particular, and the distributed solar sector in general. The company had installed 22GW of operating solar capacity by the end of 2023, and aims to expand its global portfolio to 35GW by 2025.
According to trade body SolarPower Europe, the rooftop solar market has seen an uptick in recent years, with the industry growing by 50% in 2022, with installations reaching 118GW, up from 79GW the year before. While this trend has not been present in all markets – the US notably saw a 6% decline in year-on-year capacity additions in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector between 2021 and 2022 – the growth of rooftop solar projects will be of benefit to regions where land is in short supply.
Last year, Mercom Capital Group reported that TotalEnergies was the world’s largest utility-scale solar developer, with a total pipeline of 41.3GW between July 2022 and June 2023. The majority of this capacity – 25.5GW – was contracted capacity, as opposed to capacity under construction or in operation, reflecting the company’s ambitious solar installation targets.
