France-based energy giant TotalEnergies has built upon its LNG (liquefied natural gas) arrangement with AES in the Caribbean to now include renewable energy solutions.
TotalEnergies has a long-standing partnership with AES due to its prominent position in the region within the LNG value chain. Last year, however, the company purchased a 30% interest in solar and battery assets in Puerto Rico that AES is currently building.
The new deal builds upon this by acquiring a 50% interest in AES’ portfolio of renewable assets in the Dominican Republic. When combined, the two portfolios account for some 1.5GW renewable energy capacity split over solar, wind and battery-storage solutions.
TotalEnergies already operates service stations in the Caribbean and markets its lubricant products under the Total brand, and it is currently building a103MW solar plant in the Dominican Republic.
TotalEnergies’ president for power, renewables and gas, Stéphane Michel, said about the deal:
“We are pleased to expand our multi-energy strategy through this partnership with AES, focusing on renewables and battery storage in a region where TotalEnergies is already a leading supplier of LNG, notably for power generation. Since 2018, we have been supplying LNG to AES’s subsidiaries in Panama and the Dominican Republic.”
He added that the deal helps the company reach its goal of getting gross renewable capacity to 35GW by 2025, as well as its longer term aim of producing 100TWh of electricity by the end of this decade.
The Caribbean may be far away, but establishing wind and solar renewable generation in such resource-rich regions will help the world meet its overall climate targets.
