TotalEnergies has initiated the commercial operations of Myrtle Solar, a utility-scale solar farm situated in the US.
This solar facility, situated to the south of Houston, Texas, boasts an impressive capacity of 380 megawatts peak (MWp) for solar power generation, along with an additional 225MWh of co-located battery storage.
Spanning an expansive area equivalent to 1,800 American football fields and adorned with a staggering 705,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels, Myrtle Solar generates a substantial amount of green electricity, effectively catering to the energy needs of approximately 70,000 households.
Seventy percent of Myrtle’s capacity is dedicated to supplying clean electricity to TotalEnergies’ industrial facilities in the US Gulf Coast region as part of the company’s ‘Go Green’ Project. This initiative aims to fully meet the energy demands and reduce Scope 1+2 emissions of its industrial sites in Port Arthur and La Porte, Texas, and Carville, Louisiana, by the year 2025.
The remaining 30% of Myrtle’s capacity is allocated to providing green power to Kilroy Realty, a publicly traded real estate company, through a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) tied to market prices. Originally developed as a joint venture between SunChase Power and Eolian, L.P. (Eolian), the Myrtle project was acquired by TotalEnergies in 2021.
In addition to the photovoltaic installations, the solar facility is equipped with battery energy storage systems designed to ensure grid stability. With a combined capacity of 225 megawatt-hours (MWh), these storage systems consist of 114 advanced Energy Storage Systems (ESS) containers developed and assembled by TotalEnergies’ affiliate, Saft, a leader in industrial battery technology.
The Myrtle project, benefiting from the IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) Tax Credit mechanisms, is expected to contribute positively to TotalEnergies’ Integrated Power division’s profitability target of 12%.
TotalEnergies Renewables senior vice president Vincent Stoquart said: “We are very proud to start up Myrtle, TotalEnergies’ largest-to-date operated utility-scale solar farm with storage in the United States.
“This startup is another milestone in achieving our goal to build an integrated and profitable position in Texas, where ERCOT is the main electrical grid operator. Besides, the project will enable the Company to cover the power needs of some of its biggest US industrial sites with electricity from a renewable source.
“Given the advantages that IRA tax exemptions are generating, we will continue to actively develop our 25GW portfolio of projects in operation or development in the United States, to contribute to the Company’s global power generation target of more than 100TWh by 2030.”
