An agreement with WPD to acquire a 23 percent interest in Yunlin Holding GmbH, the owner of the Yunlin offshore wind farm located off the coast of Taiwan. In exchange for the 23 percent stake, Total outlined that it will pay WPD a consideration based on its share of past costs. Total noted that the acquisition, which is subject to government approval, will broaden the group’s portfolio of offshore wind projects under development and construction. The Yunlin project represents production capacity of 640 megawatts (MW) and holds a 20-year guaranteed price power purchase agreement with the state-owned company Taipower. The wind farm will comprise 80 wind turbines with a unit capacity of 8MW. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2022 and once on stream, the project will produce 2.4 terawatt hours of renewable electricity per year, which Total highlighted is enough to serve the power needs of 605,000 households.
The Yunlin project is currently 48 percent owned by WPD, with EGCO (Electricity Generating Public Company Limited) holding a 25 percent stake and a consortium of Japanese investors led by Sojitz (Sojitz Corporation, ENEOS Corporation, Chugoku Electric Power, Chudenko Corporation, and Shikoku Electric Power) holding a 27 percent interest. As part of its ambition to get to net zero by 2050, Total notes on its website that it is building a portfolio of activities in renewables and electricity that should account for up to 40 percent of its sales by 2050. At the end of 2020, Total’s gross power generation capacity worldwide was around 12 gigawatts (GW), including 7GW of renewable energy. The company said it will continue to expand this business to reach 100GW of gross production capacity from renewable sources by 2030.