From the Production to the Supply of Electricity : Our Presence Across the Value Chain

With digitalization and an evolution in mobility, as well as increased access to electricity among populations, the 21st century is truly a century of electricity. The demand for electricity is increasing faster than the global demand in energy. While our Company has placed climate at the heart of its strategy, we want to offer our clients a mix of energy sources with increasingly lower carbon emissions. Keeping true to our integrated model, we aim to produce and supply electricity that is produced first and foremost from renewable energies, and from natural gas. Natural gas is a key transition energy thanks to its flexibility and capacity for responding to the strong growth in demand and because it releases half the greenhouse gas emissions of coal in power generation.

From the production to the supply of electricity from renewables

100 GW
Target for gross installed renewable power generation capacity by 2030

TotalEnergies has a long history in the power business: electricity has always been one of the main outputs from our natural gas production. Gas, which emits much less carbon than coal to produce electricity, is ideal to compensate for the intermittent nature of renewables, i.e. to take over when there is no sun, wind, etc. In order to offer our individual and business customers the best-priced deals, we are present throughout the electricity value chain.

  • Production: We have significantly enhanced our production capacity over the past few years through a series of targeted acquisitions in the renewables sector (solar, wind, hydro), where our business is growing fast. We have also set up specialized affiliates. Our goal is to achieve 100 gigawatts of gross installed renewable power generation capacity by 2030.
  • Supply: We are a major supplier of electricity in Europe, serving the French, Belgian, Spanish, Dutch and U.K. markets.
  • Storage: To compensate for the intermittent nature of renewables and reduce network access tariffs for our customers, we have made electricity storage a priority. We invest in stationary storage systems, such as in Dunkirk, where we have launched the largest project of this type in France. And our Saft affiliate develops high-tech batteries for storing electricity generated from renewable sources.

And because we are determined to pursue the decarbonization of our energies, we also have the ambition to grow in the biogas and hydrogen sectors.

Aggregation: a new know-how at TotalEnergies in the electricity value chain

 

Aggregation consists in uniting several decentralized sources of electricity within the same portfolio (electricity from solar power, wind turbines, etc.) and managing this electricity so it is added to the network in the right quantity at the right time.

Solutions to promote electric mobility

The transportation industry is undergoing sweeping change. In the face of climate challenges and shifting user habits, electric mobility is emerging as the solution of the future. Electric mobility not only concerns passenger cars – the number of electric vehicles (EVs) could rise to 380 million in 2040 from 2 million today – but municipal and corporate fleets as well.

With these stakes in mind, we have crafted a full range of products and services adapted to our individual and business customers’ needs:

  • At our service stations, we have developed a dense network of high-power charging stations. Going forward, we aim to fit out 500 TotalEnergies service stations in Europe with EV charging areas, resulting in 1,000 charge points along Western Europe’s motorways, or one every 150 kilometers.
  • Outside our network of service stations, we help local and regional authorities develop and operate public charging station networks across Europe.
  • In the home, our electricity supplier affiliates provide home EV charging solutions for consumers.
  • For companies, we operate charging infrastructure for use by corporate fleets, employees and visitors. And thanks to the TotalEnergies card, people travelling for work can also recharge their vehicle at over 150,000 charging stations in partner networks throughout Europe.
  • In the field of mobility, our affiliate Saft established a joint venture with Stellantis (formerly Groupe PSA) in 2020 called Automotive Cells Company (ACC) to create a world-class player in the development and manufacture of high-performance batteries for electric passenger vehicles by 2023. In 2021; Mercedes-Benz came on board as a new partner of ACC (partnership subject to approval by the authorities).

Electricity storage: a fundamental challenge

 

The optimization of storage is an essential part in developing renewable energy, which is by nature intermittent. TotalEnergies is developing high-tech batteries through its subsidiary Saft to meet these challenges. Their unique selling point is the ability to smooth out production while limiting losses of electricity linked to transport and energy distribution.