TOTAL To Add 25MW Solar Projects In Thailand, Boost Renewables

TOTAL S.A. (NYSE:TOT) announced that its unit Total Solar Distributed Generation has entered into an agreement to provide 25 megawatt-peak of solar rooftops for 24 facilities of one of the largest food companies in Thailand, Betagro.

These solar projects will utilize more than 62,000 solar panels and produce 38 gigawatt hours of renewable electricity per year. Clean energy generated from rooftop solar projects will assist Betagro to lower carbon footprint by 26,000 tons of carbon dioxide during the lifetime of the projects.

TOTAL’s Focus on Clean Energy

In addition to developing hydrocarbon projects across the globe, TOTAL is also working to develop clean energy development projects in different regions. The company is gradually building a portfolio of low-carbon businesses that could account for 15-20% of sales by 2040.

TOTAL signed an agreement to develop a 800-MW solar plant in Qatar. Last month, the company entered into the Spanish renewables market, with plans to develop nearly 2 gigawatts (GWs) of solar projects in the country.

Total’s long-term plan is to develop clean renewable assets and take the current worldwide renewable energy capacity of 3 GWs to more than 25 GWs by 2025. The acquisition of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) allowed TOTAL to expand footprint in the renewable space.

Rising Global Use of Renewables

The U.S. Energy information Administration (“EIA”) release indicated that clean renewable energy will account for the majority of global power generation by 2050. Per EIA, nearly 28% of the world’s power was attributed to renewables in 2018, courtesy of improved technology and increasing awareness about emissions. Renewable sources are expected to account 49% of global power generation by 2050.

Renewables will represent 30% of power generation sources in the solar market in Southeast Asia by 2040. Japan, one of the prominent countries in the region, offers good opportunity for solar project developers and has plans to expand renewable operations. TOTAL, which has presence in Japan, will look for new opportunities to further expand in the renewable markets therein.

The rising demand for renewable projects across the globe is due to the damage caused by air pollution to environment. Carbon emission is a silent killer. When everyone across the globe is concerned about the coronavirus and how to contain it, air pollution is silently killing seven million people across the globe annually.

The above global scenario has created immense growth opportunities in the renewable energy space. We could notice that other oil and gas companies like Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) Plc RDS.A are also investing heavily in the renewable energy space.

Price Performance

In the past three months, TOTAL’s shares have underperformed the industry.

Zacks Rank

TOTAL currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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