TotalEnergies starts its largest European solar project

By America Hernandez

PARIS -French oil major TotalEnergies has started up a cluster of five solar projects in Seville, Spain, in what will be the company's largest solar project in Europe, it said on Thursday.

    It cements Total's role as Spain's fourth-largest provider of electricity and gas services, and contributes to Spain's goal of getting 80% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, Olivier Jouny, Total's senior vice president of renewables, said in a statement.

The five sites have a total capacity of 263 megawatts. They will produce 515 gigawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually — enough to power 150,000 households.

Major energy companies have been reversing a short-lived shift towards renewable power in pursuit of high profit margins, and following pressure from some shareholders and the political shift led by U.S. President Donald Trump towards fossil fuels.

However TotalEnergies has 28 gigawatts of gross installed renewable capacity worldwide, with a goal of reaching 35 GW by the end of this year - part of a strategy to expand investment in renewables alongside oil and gas.     Most of the electricity produced will be sold via long-term power purchase agreements, with the rest sold on the wholesale market.    The Seville project was declared of strategic interest by the regional Andalusian government and generated 800 direct and indirect jobs.

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris; editing by Barbara Lewis)