Wind and Solar Overtake Gas Power Generation for the First Time
Wind and solar power generation topped gas-fired power plant output for the first time ever on a monthly basis in April, as the energy crunch limited gas availability and made the fuel more expensive.
Wind and solar installations generated 22% of the world’s electricity last month, climate outlet Ember reported, as cited by Reuters. Gas generation, meanwhile, accounted for 20% of the global total in April.
“The current energy crisis has further strengthened the economic case for renewables compared to imported gas, while also adding greater political urgency to accelerate deployment,” Ember global electricity analyst Kostantsa Rangelova said.
The above statement is arguable. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has affected a fifth of global liquefied natural gas production capacity, leading to surging prices and a switch from gas to coal across Asia, as the solid fuel remains the most affordable baseload generation option. Yet the crisis has also added momentum to wind and solar—especially solar—deployment as a fast alternative to hydrocarbons that are in increasingly short supply.
The parallel growth in wind and solar, on the one hand, and coal, on the other, is an interesting trend that suggests affordability remains the top priority for most. It undermines the argument in favor of a transition to wind and solar as reliable long-term alternatives to hydrocarbons, but it also highlights that they can be used as alternatives in times of tighter supply of gas, especially during peak output season for both wind turbines and solar panels.
What is more, as some observers have noted, the current shift in energy demand patterns will change as soon as the Strait of Hormuz reopens and gas flows return to pre-war levels.
“Some people are saying this oil-price spike will do what the Paris Agreement and EV mandates haven’t,” Bob McNally, founder of Rapidan Energy Group and former White House energy adviser, told Fortune recently, “which is to convince everybody to destroy demand for gasoline. “But busts follow booms,” McNally continued. “When oil prices drop, I think demand for EVs will wane. You’re on this roller coaster of oil prices.”
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
TotalEnergies Eyes $100M+ Stake Sales in European Solar and Wind Portfolio
TotalEnergies is considering selling 50% of some of its solar and wind assets in Europe as part of its strategy to partner with other companies in operating and monetizing its clean energy portfolio, Bloomberg reported on Friday, quoting anonymous sources with knowledge of the plans.
The France-based oil and gas supermajor, which has been developing a global renewable energy portfolio for years, is now working with advisers to potentially market 50% in a combined 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power assets in France, Germany, Spain, and Poland, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
A deal could be worth several hundred million U.S. dollars for TotalEnergies, the sources noted.
Unlike other European majors such as BP and Shell, which have outright reduced spending on renewables, TotalEnergies has a strategy to reach a 12% profitability target for its Integrated Power business.
This means that TotalEnergies would typically divest up to 50% of its renewable assets once they reach commercial operation date (COD) and are de-risked, which allows it “to maximize asset value and manage risks.”
In one of its biggest recent stake sales, TotalEnergies last year agreed to sell 50% of its solar projects portfolio in North America to global investment firm KKR for about $1 billion, as part of the French supermajor’s renewables strategy to divest half of its already operational assets.
TotalEnergies has also moved to sign power purchase deals to provide clean energy to major data center developers and hyperscalers.
In November, the French major signed a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to supply Google data centers in Ohio with renewable electricity from a local TotalEnergies solar farm.
Earlier in November, TotalEnergies signed a power purchase agreement with Data4 to supply renewable electricity to the data center developer’s sites in Spain for 10 years, as the French supermajor looks to boost its integrated power business with the key driver of global electricity demand—data centers and AI infrastructure.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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