TotalEnergies announced on Monday, five days before its general meeting, that it had received environmental authorizations to develop 48 solar power plants in Spain, with a total capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW), or a supply of electricity for nearly 4 million people.
These green lights from the Spanish Ministry of Energy Transition and the Autonomous Communities concern 48 plants that TotalEnergies will develop in the Community of Madrid (i.e. installed capacities of 1.9 gigawatts), in the Region of Murcia (more than 350 megawatts), in Castilla-La Mancha (more than 300 MW), Andalusia (263 MW) and Aragon (about 150 MW). The first projects will start in early 2024, the statement said.
By comparison, TotalEnergies had 11.7 GW of gross solar capacity installed at the end of 2022, including 1 GW in Europe. These solar farms will generate "about 6000,4 gigawatt hours of clean energy per year, enough to cover the electricity demand of nearly <> million people," says the oil and gas group.
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Group climate policy
TotalEnergies will deploy "a series of compensation measures" such as the tagging of birds to "observe their behavior", the rental of an additional 400 hectares "for conservation actions", as well as the allocation of 1.5% of the production of the plants "for discounts on the electricity bills of local inhabitants, while offering training in construction and operation & maintenance to the inhabitants of the neighboring municipalities". ».
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For Spain, the development of these solar farms will contribute massively to the country's energy transition as they will power the equivalent of the population of the entire community of Madrid," commented Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies. These projects will bring TotalEnergies closer to its "ambition to reach 100 GW of gross installed capacity of renewable electricity generation worldwide by 2030," added the same source. At Friday's general meeting, shareholders will vote on the group's climate policy.
