TotalEnergies will develop 48 solar power plants in Spain

TotalEnergies announced on Monday, five days before its general assembly, that it had received environmental authorizations to develop 48 solar power plants in Spain, with a total capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW), i.e. an electricity supply for nearly 4 million people. .

These green lights from the Spanish Ministry for Energy Transition and the Autonomous Communities concern 48 power 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 Castile-La Mancha (over 300 MW), Andalusia (263 MW) and Aragon (around 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 6 gigawatt hours of clean energy per year, enough to cover the electricity demand of nearly 000 million people," says the oil and gas group.

TotalEnergies will deploy "a series of compensation measures" such as the marking 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 plants "for discounts on the electricity bills of local inhabitants, while offering training in construction and operation & maintenance to the inhabitants of neighboring municipalities".

“For Spain, the development of these solar farms will contribute massively to the energy transition of the country because they will make it possible to supply 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 the general meeting on Friday, shareholders will vote on the group's climate policy.