"Offshore Wind as part of the history of the company" Interview with Antoine Becker, TotalEnergies

In the following interview Antoine Becker, Managing Director Offshore Wind Germany with TotalEnergies, tells the readers about the ambitions of his company in the field of offshore wind.

REH: TotalEnergies is very active in the offshore wind sector. Please tell us a little bit about your various projects in different European countries.

Antoine Becker: "You are right, among our renewable energy projects, offshore wind is one of the backbones of TotalEnergies' multi-energy strategy. With decades of experience in deepwater exploration and production and a strong track record in managing complex industrial projects. TotalEnergies uses its expertise to develop, build and operate offshore wind farms around the world. In a very short time, less than 6 years, we have built a diverse portfolio of more than 16 GW of offshore wind projects worldwide. TotalEnergies celebrated its 100th anniversary on March 28th, 2024, and we are convinced that offshore wind, especially in Germany and Europe, will be part of the history of the Company for the next century.

In the offshore wind sector, TotalEnergies develops and operates projects in the United States, South Korea and Taiwan. In Europe, TotalEnergies develops offshore wind farms in the UK, France, Germany and Denmark. The Company is developing a 30 MW floating project in the Mediterranean: Eolmed, one of the first floating pilots in France. In the UK, TotalEnergies now has an autonomous team overseeing 4 projects with different partners: Seagreen for 1.5 GW already in operation, Erebus for 100 MW, Outer Dowsing for 1.5 GW and West of Orkney for 2 GW. In Denmark, we also acquired the Jammerland Bugt and Lillebaelt South projects from European Energy for 240MW and 165MW respectively. Personally, I am thrilled to lead since October 2023 the development of both our projects in Germany, for a total of 3 GW. These projects are the backbone of the integrated power strategy of TotalEnergies in Germany."

REH: What is your personal connection to renewable energy and offshore wind?

Antoine Becker: "My late grandfather was a pioneer of wind turbine development in France. In the 1960’s, he founded AEROWATT, one of the first wind turbine designer and manufacturer in France. I therefore was very young when first in contact with vivid discussions about wind energy in particular, electricity in general."

REH: How do you see the German market?

Antoine Becker: "As part of its ambition to get to net-zero by 2050, TotalEnergies is building a cost-competitive portfolio of power production combining flexible assets and renewable assets like solar PV, onshore, and offshore wind. With an already-installed gross renewable power generation capacity of 22.4 GW in the World, TotalEnergies will continue to expand its power generation to more than 100TWh by 2030. In Germany, which has the largest electricity market in Europe and high renewable build-out targets, TotalEnergies wants to become a major integrated player. As merchant projects are at the core of TotalEnergies’ strategy, we decided to bid in the German offshore wind auction in July 2023.

Recently TotalEnergies has also signed an agreement to acquire Kyon Energy, a German battery storage player, to contribute to the resilience of the German electricity system. It follows the previous acquisition of the renewable energy aggregator Quadra Energy and successes like the awarding of a contract to install and operate 1,100 high-power charging points for electric vehicles in Germany. It is also well in line with the third acquisition by TotalEnergies of Nash Renewables. TotalEnergies has decided to integrate the software platform to optimize the design and operating parameters of its renewable projects. All these projects will offer reliable and competitive power to German customers."

REH: What challenges are you currently facing in the development of your offshore wind farms in Germany?

Antoine Becker: "TotalEnergies is working in good cooperation with the authorities the permitting procedure. Vessels have started necessary environmental offshore surveys in January 2024, including monitoring species such as birds and marine mammals. The results will be part of the Planning Approval Application along with technical specificities of our projects. Our projects will be the largest offshore wind farms ever built in Germany, deeper and further from the coast than previous wind farms. First and foremost, TotalEnergies wants to implement a strong safety and rescue procedure to ensure the safety of our staff during our operations. So, we work closely with German authorities, other operators, and Transmission System Operators to have such a system in place.

The German government's offshore wind targets are very ambitious. This means densifying the German North Sea by building future wind farms close to existing ones, creating an 'external wake effect'. It will block the wind and reduce the amount of wind that passes through and therefore reduce the amount of electricity produced, which is not optimal at all. We believe that the siting of future offshore wind farms must be carefully designed to minimize this impact, particularly in such a small Exclusive Economic Zone. Today, the expected impact is at least 10%, which threatens the business case for operational and newly awarded assets.

From a technical perspective, our teams are developing several concepts to select the best type of wind turbine and foundation to meet local constraints. The capabilities of the manufacturers have to be combined with the noise mitigation requirements: this results in complex decisions to be made very early in the permitting process, which is not necessarily beneficial for the supply chain and the cost of offshore wind energy. Obviously, TotalEnergies has engaged very early with the local suppliers and service providers to meet its regulatory and planning objectives. We are also very pleased to have started working closely with the transmission system operators, who are very important partners in the German offshore wind adventure, as their planning and ours are closely linked.

For the first time in 2023, dynamic auctions determined the amount of lease payments that developers will have to pay to build their wind farms, rather than being subsidized. This is good news for the offshore wind sector in Germany, as it means that offshore wind can be profitable like any other energy source and can even help improve Germany's overall energy system. For this to be sustainable, given the sums at stake, it is essential that the technical and economic conditions defined in the bidding phase do not change over time, so that developers can confidently meet their development milestones and start producing electricity in line with Germany's targets. This shall be achieved through close cooperation with the German authorities to ensure mutual understanding of constraints and objectives."

Thank you very much for the interview!

Antoine Becker will also speak at the Hamburg Offshore Wind Conference of DNV and Renewable Energy Hamburg on the 14th of May 2024. Please register following this link:
https://www.erneuerbare-energien-hamburg.de/de/events/details/hamburg-offshore-wind-conference-2024.html