TotalEnergies acquires 50% stake in OranjeWind offshore

TotalEnergies has signed agreements with German renewable developer, RWE, to acquire a 50 per cent stake in OranjeWind, a 795 MW offshore wind farm under development in the Netherlands.

The company, in a statement made available to The Guardian, said that it would dedicate its share of the renewable electricity production from this project to power 350 MW electrolyzer projects, which would produce about 40,000 tons per year of green hydrogen for the decarbonisation of TotalEnergies’ refineries in Northern Europe.

It added that TotalEnergies plans to decarbonise its European refineries’ hydrogen and cut its CO2 emissions by around five million tons per year by 2030 with intent to allocate its share in OranjeWind to produce electricity to generate green hydrogen via electrolysis.

The production of this green or low-carbon hydrogen, which will replace the hydrogen currently consumed in TotalEnergies’ refineries, will avoid the emission of approximately 400,000 tons of CO2 per year.

President, Refining and Chemicals at TotalEnergies, Stephane Michel, said that the project is a milestone towards TotalEnergies’ goal of a 40 per cent reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions linked directly to its oil and gas operations by 2030 compared to the 2015 baseline.

Michel added that in producing green power and hydrogen, OranjeWind will also support the stability of the Dutch grid with its electric boilers and battery storage, noting that the construction of the wind farm is scheduled to start in 2026, with full commissioning expected in early 2028.