TotalEnergies announced on Sunday that it had exceeded 1.5 gigawatts (GW) in long-term contracts for the production and supply of on-site solar electricity for businesses, which the group has signed with around 600 industrial and commercial customers worldwide.

These PPA (power purchase agreement) contracts cover sectors such as the automotive, agrifood, textile, cement and steel industries, said the French oil and gas company, which also has a strong presence in renewable energies, in a press release.

TotalEnergies develops, finances, builds and operates solar panels installed on rooftops, shaded areas or vacant industrial sites, for self-consumption by its customers but also to inject electricity into the grid.

The Group argues that its on-site solar production PPAs, with an average duration of 20 years, give its customers the guarantee of predictable prices - 20% to 45% lower than current prices depending on the country - while limiting their carbon footprint.

Matthieu Langeron, Head of B2B On-Site Renewable Generation at TotalEnergies, explained that the Group is targeting between 8 and 9 GW of on-site solar capacity by 2030, i.e. just under 10% of the global gross renewable capacity target of 100 GW, as well as ROACE of around the 12% target for its entire Integrated Power division.

"On all our sites worldwide, our production represents around 20% of our customers' consumption. This on-site solarization solution is often the first building block in their decarbonization process", he told journalists, stressing that this model was easier and quicker to implement than contracts backed by large-scale solar or wind farms.

TotalEnergies, its biggest customer for on-site solar production, said that Asia currently accounts for around 60% of its capacity in this field, the USA and Europe for 15% each, and the Middle East and Africa for 10%.

(Benjamin Mallet reports, edited by Kate Entringer)