With another 10 billion in net profit in the first half of 2024, down 1% compared to the same period in 2023, TotalEnergies is keeping its hands free to pursue its strategy on two pillars: oil and LNG on the one hand, and electricity. At the start of 2024, projects multiplied on the first pillar with announcements in oil in Norway, Angola, Brazil, Suriname, Malaysia, Congo, Nigeria, Brunei, the United Kingdom and Saint Tomé and Principio, and in LNG in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Texas, Nigeria, India and South Korea. But the major has also advanced its pawns in electricity, in the United Kingdom in particular with the acquisition of a gas-fired power plant, and the creation of a joint venture in high-power charging stations for electric vehicles.
TotalEnergies also and above all continued its major maneuvers in Germany, a less closed market than France, where EDF has won almost all the offshore wind projects (the installation of renewables on land, including biomethane, poses problems of permits and acceptability). Across the Rhine, TotalEnergies had already been able to get its hands, in October 2023, on the renewable electricity aggregator (9 GW) Quadra Energy, and in January 2024, on a battery storage developer, Kyon Energy for 90 million euros. The company had also acquired the start-up Nash Renewables which optimizes the design and operating parameters of renewable projects. It had also won two German concessions for 4.5 GW of wind power in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, for an initial amount of 582 million euros. The French company had also been awarded a contract for the installation and operation of 1,100 high-power charging points for electric vehicles at 2,134 sites.
North Sea wind power dedicated to green hydrogen
“The more we move into electricity, the more we realize that we need flexible means of production. And batteries are not enough. We need gas-fired power stations. And, at some point, we will need CO2 capture and storage or switch to hydrogen. This is the German program that we are interested in.“, declared Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies in February 2024 during the presentation of the 2023 annual results, specifying that he was looking at how “investing in gas-fired power stations, which will become hydrogen-powered.” This kind of statement by Patrick Pouyanné is usually followed by action. And on July 24, TotalEnergies actually announced an investment of 75 million euros in a 100 MW / 200 MWh battery electricity storage project in Dahlem, North Rhine-Westphalia, from Kyon Energy’s project portfolio. Its subsidiary Saft will supply the LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) batteries.
TotalEnergies also announced an agreement with German energy company RWE to acquire 50% of the 795 MW OranjeWind farm under development in the North Sea, 53 km off the Dutch coast. Its 350 MW will be dedicated to the production of 40,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year through water electrolysis to decarbonize its refineries in Northern Europe. This is a surprising announcement given that the Major had launched a call for tenders on the market at the end of 2023 to purchase 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year to decarbonize its European refineries and signed a first contract with American company Air Products at the beginning of June, but only for 70,000 tonnes per year for 15 years starting in 2030.
Appetite confirmed for German gas-fired power stations
«We have different ways to supply our refineries with hydrogenexplains Patrick Pouyanné. In Europe, the regulation on RFNBO (renewable fuels of non-biological origin) takes green hydrogen out of the ETS system of carbon quotas and gives it added value. The question is how much we are prepared to pay to produce it. And there are several paths.” In France, for its Normandy refinery, “TotalEnergies supplies Air Liquide with green electrons to produce hydrogen“TotalEnergies is also trying the model of dedicating wind assets to the production of hydrogen operated by others or by itself. «“We need to evaluate the solutions. It’s a nascent industry.”. The third way is the acquisition of green hydrogen from a producer, as with Air Products.Being the first buyer gives us access to a competitive price“, recognizes Patrick Pouyanné.
The head of TotalEnergies also explained that he was looking to extend his German wind concessions in the North Sea, close to the one he already had in order to create synergies, while confirming his interest in German gas-fired power plants. And that announcements on these subjects were to be expected. He indeed recalled that his electricity strategy was not limited to renewables, which alone “ont the profitability that we know“, meaning not sufficient according to TotalEnergies standards. And that in Germany, to integrate into the energy strategy aimed at replacing nuclear and coal with gas and renewables, TotalEnergies was building an “integrated” offer, with gas-powered power plants, renewables and flexibility solutions, including batteries.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
