TotalEnergies Acquiring 400-MW in EDF Nuclear PPA to Offset Industrial Emissions in France
French energy producer EDF Group will allocate a part of its in-country nuclear generation capacity to aid in decarbonizing oil, gas and chemicals firm TotalEnergies’ downstream operations in France.
Under the 12-year power purchase deal, TotalEnergies will acquire about 400 MW of carbon-free nuclear generation to cover close to 60% of its electricity needs related to its refining and chemical plants in the country. TotalEnergies has announced a goal of powering its operations in Europe and the United States with 100% low-carbon electricity by 2050.
The 12-year PPA starts in January 2028. Under many PPAs, the customer does not always receive the carbon-free electricity directly, but the contract helps finance cleaner generation onto the respective grid and the customer can claim the investment as an environmental offset to its own operational emissions.
“The agreement will enable our electricity‑intensive industrial sites in France to secure, over the long term, a significant share of their electricity supply with competitive low‑carbon power,” said Patrick Pouyanne, chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, in a statement.
TotalEnergies hopes to cut its Scope 2 emissions from the refining and chemicals units by more than two metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, using 2015 emissions as the baseline. Scope 2 emissions are a companies’ indirect emissions, such as those produced from purchase of electricity, steam, process heat and cooling.
EDF operates nearly 20 nuclear power plants in France. The fleet includes more than 50 reactors generating close to 63 GW of carbon-free electricity output, according to reports.
“By guaranteeing the refining and chemical activities concerned access to competitive, sovereign and low‑carbon electricity, EDF provides them with the long‑term visibility they need to ensure their sustainability,” said Bernard Fontana, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the EDF Group.
U.S. companies also are seeking expanded nuclear generation to meet both consumption and carbon reduction goals. Dow is working with next-gen reactor designer X-energy on a planned reactor to power Dow’s Seadrift chemicals manufacturing plant along the Texas Gulf Coast.
TotalEnergies has invested close to $5 billion in pursuing low-carbon ventures in the U.S. Earlier this year, however, the company accepted a $1 billion compensation from the Trump Administration to walk away from its undeveloped offshore wind leases.
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EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.