TotalEnergies has entered into agreements with German renewable developer RWE to acquire a 50 per cent stake in OranjeWind, a 795MW offshore wind farm under development in the Netherlands.
TotalEnergies will dedicate its share of the renewable electricity production from this project to power 350MW electrolyser projects. These will produce about 40,000 tonnes of green hydrogen per year for the decarbonisation of TotalEnergies’ refineries in Northern Europe.
TotalEnergies plans to decarbonise its European refineries' hydrogen and cut its CO2 emissions by around five million tonnes per year by 2030. In this context, the company intends to allocate its share in OranjeWind to produce electricity to generate green hydrogen via electrolysis.
The production of this green or low-carbon hydrogen will replace the hydrogen currently consumed in TotalEnergies' refineries. It will also avoid the emission of approximately 400,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Located in the North Sea about 53 kilometres off the Dutch coast, the OranjeWind project was won by RWE in 2022 as part of the Dutch Hollandse Kust West VII tender. RWE then committed to developing electrolysers, to which TotalEnergies will now also contribute.
In addition to producing green power and hydrogen, OranjeWind will also support the stability of the Dutch grid with its electric boilers and battery storage. Construction of the wind farm is scheduled to start in 2026, with full commissioning in early 2028.