Oil and gas giant TotalEnergies (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE) has achieved first power generation from offshore wind.
The French supermajor, which entered the sector in 2019, has hailed the milestone as a “new step” in the establishment of its renewables credentials.
Green power has been generated from the first turbine of the the Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.
TotalEnergies joined this project, operated by wpd, with a 23% interest in May 2021, alongside EGCO Group and a consortium of Japanese investors led by Sojitz.
The Yunlin offshore wind farm has a capacity of 640 megawatts (MW) from 80 turbines.
Once it starts up fully, it will produce 2.4 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable electricity per year, enough to meet the energy needs of more than 600,000 households.
The first turbine was commissioned and successfully connected to the grid this month.
Developers are hoping to get the first batch of nine turbines into full operation mode by the end of the year.
Julien Pouget, senior vice president renewables at TotalEnergies, said: “Despite the challenges caused by the pandemic on construction activities, the combined efforts of all stakeholders, leveraging wpd and TotalEnergies’ expertise in offshore activities, made the start of electricity production from this offshore wind farm possible.
“This power generation, a first from offshore wind since our entry into the sector in 2019, is a new step in the development of our renewable energy footprint.”
As part of its drive to become a broad energy company, TotalEnergies is steadily building up its offshore wind portfolio.
The Paris-headquartered company has a 51% stake in the Seagreen development being built off the coast of Angus – once complete, it will be Scotland’s largest wind farm.
South of the border, TotalEnergies, alongside the Green Investment Group, won the rights earlier this year to develop a wind project of up to 1.5 gigawatts off East Anglia.
And the pair, this time with the Renewable Infrastructure Development Group (RIDG), have bid in the ScotWind leasing round with the aim of constructing the West of Orkney Windfarm.
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