TotalEnergies Mulls U.S. Wind Energy Push to Widen Green Foray

(Bloomberg) -- TotalEnergies SE said it is considering expanding into U.S. onshore wind as it seeks to diversify its clean-energy offerings after this week agreeing to buy a solar firm in the country. 

Energy companies are pushing ahead with renewables projects by adopting an array of technologies to meet rising demand. They are betting that calls for green energy will only grow as climate change concerns take hold, even though current supply chain constraints and rising metals costs have driven up prices of solar panels and wind turbines.    

“It may be the time” for TotalEnergies to consider entering into the U.S. onshore wind market “to benefit from a natural hedge,” because it would diversify the group’s power production and technology exposure, said Marc-Antoine Pignon, the company’s head of renewables in the U.S. 

The French company expanded its presence in the U.S. Wednesday with the acquisition of Austin-based Core Solar LLC, which has utility-scale solar and energy storage projects at various stages of development across several states and power markets. It is also developing offshore wind projects in waters off America’s coast.

The deal supplements TotalEnergies’s recent acquisition of the industrial and commercial solar activities of SunPower Corp, and its partnership to develop photovoltaic projects in the U.S. with Hanwha Energy. The company is also starting the development of a 3-gigawatt wind farm of the coast of New York and New Jersey, and is preparing for an auction of offshore wind projects off the coast of California.

TotalEnergies aims to increase its U.S. solar capacity in operations to 4 gigawatts in 2025 from 0.9 gigawatts currently, according to Pignon. The company is targeting 35 gigawatts of gross renewable production capacity worldwide by then.

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