TotalEnergies Enters Castle Wind JV to Explore 1GW Development of Offshore Wind in Central California

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Mar 02, 2022, 10:42 ET

PARIS and MORRO BAY, Calif., March 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE) has joined Trident Winds Inc. in the Castle Wind LLC joint venture for the development of a 1 GW offshore wind project off the coast of Morro Bay, off the Central California Coast. The Company entered the JV and acquired the shares previously held by EnBW North America.

Castle Wind is poised to participate in the anticipated Bureau of Ocean Energy Management lease sale in late 2022.

"TotalEnergies is pleased to bring our global expertise in deploying efficient, large-scale offshore assets to Castle Wind in California. The work completed by the teams in the last years has laid a solid foundation with the local communities, and we look forward to working with them to bring clean energy to the state," said David Foulon, Head of U.S. Offshore Wind at TotalEnergies. "This partnership in Castle Wind is another important step for TotalEnergies to contribute to the U.S. offshore wind industry ramp-up, and fulfill its global ambition of becoming a top five producer of renewable energy worldwide by 2030."

"Castle Wind welcomes TotalEnergies with its deep commitment to renewable energy to the joint venture and the project team," said Alla Weinstein, CEO of Castle Wind. "We have come a long way since first identifying the opportunity for offshore wind development in California in 2016 and stand today at the precipice of a generational opportunity to secure California's clean energy future. We are excited to begin the next chapter of this journey. TotalEnergies' experience and expertise, with over 10 GW of offshore wind projects under development, will be invaluable as we work towards making offshore wind a reality in California."

TotalEnergies has been a long-time renewable energy player in California as the majority shareholder of San Jose-based SunPower since 2012. In February 2022, TotalEnergies purchased SunPower Corp.'s Commercial & Industrial Solutions business, integrating the team of nearly 300 and further enhancing its footprint in the solar industry. The Company has offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

About Castle Wind

Castle Wind LLC is a joint venture between Trident Winds Inc. and TotalEnergies. Castle Wind was created to help bring a floating offshore wind farm with a proposed 1 GW capacity of clean, renewable energy to California.

About Trident Winds

Trident Winds Inc. was established in 2015 to utilize prior permitting expertise in the marine environment for the development of deep-water offshore wind projects using maturing floating offshore wind technologies. The Trident Winds team brings extensive experience in permitting, technology, utilities and energy markets to the Castle Wind LLC.

TotalEnergies and offshore wind

TotalEnergies is already developing a portfolio of offshore wind projects with a total capacity of more than 10 GW, of which 2/3 are bottom-fixed and 1/3 are floating. These projects are located in the United Kingdom (Seagreen project, Outer Dowsing, Erebus, ScotWind), South Korea (Bada project), Taiwan (Yunlin project), France (Eolmed project) and the United States (New York Bight project). The Company has also been qualified to participate in competitive tenders in the UK and France and will also participate in a tender in Norway.

About TotalEnergies in the U.S.

Operating in the United States since 1957, TotalEnergies is focused on identifying opportunities in the evolving U.S. energy market to meet growing energy needs while reducing carbon emissions. The Company is developing a number of solar and energy storage projects in the U.S., targeting 4 gigawatts in cumulative capacity by 2025. It is also positioning itself in the high-potential U.S. offshore wind market by developing a multi-gigawatt offshore windfarm off the East Coast and launching a joint venture to explore floating offshore wind opportunities off the Coasts of the United States.

About TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies on a global scale: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our 105,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, clean, reliable and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development in all its dimensions at the heart of its projects and operations to contribute to the well-being of people.

Cautionary Note

This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TotalEnergies SE directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TotalEnergies SE has no liability for their acts or omissions. The terms "Company" or "TotalEnergies company" refer collectively to the company TotalEnergies SE and the companies it controls directly or indirectly. Such terms are used solely for the sake of convenience for purposes of the present communication. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TotalEnergies SE nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE TotalEnergies