TotalEnergies backs out of US offshore wind

Energy giant TotalEnergies has signed settlement agreements with the United States Department of the Interior to relinquish its Carolina Long Bay and its New York Bight offshore wind leases.

The two projects would have produced a combined 4GW of renewable power.

Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of TotalEnergies, commented: "Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country's interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States, in exchange for the reimbursement of the lease fees.”

These recovered lease fees, amounting to approximately $1 billion, will be invested into the development of US gas and power production and exports the company says. More specifically, it will help finance the construction of the 29 Mt Rio Grande LNG plant, as well as the development of upstream conventional oil in Gulf of America and of shale gas production.

According to Pouyanné, this will boost the US’ oil and gas export potential.

“These investments will contribute to supplying Europe with much-needed LNG from the U.S. and provide gas for US data centre development. We believe this is a more efficient use of capital in the United States.”

The company’s statement emphasised that while oil and gas were clearly a priority for the US, offshore wind was less so. The higher costs associated with development and the fact that growing electricity demand can be met with more affordable technologies, makes this a sensible move the company states.

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“This agreement is yet another win for President Trump’s commitment to affordable and reliable energy for all Americans,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, environmentally disruptive, and subsidy-dependent schemes ever forced on American ratepayers and taxpayers. We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans' monthly bills while providing secure U.S. baseload power today—and in the future.”

The US Department of the Interior also stated that "in light of the national security concerns, TotalEnergies has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States."

TotalEnergies also recently signed a Letter of Intent with Glenfarne, the lead developer of the Alaska LNG project, for the long-term offtake of 2 million tonnes per year (Mtpa) of LNG over 20 years. According to TotalEnergies, the Alaska LNG project has significant political and institutional support in the US and aims to meet growing LNG demand from Asia. It also offers logistical flexibility thanks to its location on the Pacific coast.

From US oil and gas to floating solar across the pond

In the same week that TotalEnergies doubled down on US oil and gas, the company announced the inauguration of what they are calling Europe’s largest floating solar power plant dedicated to self-consumption.

The 31MW floating plant is located in Obourg, Belgium, on a former chalk quarry site that has been rehabilitated into a lake.

It produces 30GWh per year of renewable electricity, which will be used construction company’s Holcim’s industrial facilities.

Said Olivier Greiner, Managing Director Retail Power & Gas Belgium at TotalEnergies: “We are delighted to inaugurate this floating solar power plant, which demonstrates TotalEnergies’ teams’ ability to innovate to meet the needs of our partner Holcim, whom we support along with other industrial customers in their efforts to decarbonise their operations.”

Floating solar has proved to be an invaluable resource in terms of generating renewable energy while maximising available space and minimising impact on land, which could be used for other pursuits.

Another example of a pioneering project is EDP’s Alqueva power plant in eastern Portugal - the largest floating solar-hydro hybrid in Europe. It combines a hydroelectric power station with a 510MW capacity, including a pumping system that acts as a significant energy reserve; a floating solar power station with 12,000 photovoltaic panels and 5MW installed capacity; and a battery storage system with a storage capacity of around 2MWh.

Pedro Miguel Oliveira, Director of EDP Generation's Innovation Department, emphasises the efficiency and sustainability of floating solar. "Typically normal conventional PV uses land and there's some deforestation associated [with it]. In this particular project, we use an area that is basically unoccupied because it's the safety area of the dam.