Sibel Morrow
07 March 2023•Update: 07 March 2023
ANKARA
French multinational TotalEnergies acquired Poland’s main biogas producer, Polska Grupa Biogazowa (PGB), and a 200-megawatt (MW) development pipeline of solar projects, TotalEnergies announced on Tuesday.
With the acquisition of PGB, TotalEnergies' biogas production capacity will increase to 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh), providing the company with a competitive advantage in the promising Polish market, which has the fourth-largest potential to produce biogas and biomethane in Europe, with an estimated 100 TWh of capacity.
PGB employs 130 people in nine regions of Poland and specializes in producing biogas from organic waste to provide renewable heat and electricity.
Seventeen operational plants and one under construction could generate a total of 166 gigatwatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year.
TotalEnergies to enter Polish solar industry
TotalEnergies is also making its entry into the Polish solar industry with the purchase of six solar projects now under development with a combined output capacity of 200 MW.
The first solar farms to be situated in northern and western Poland will likely start operating by 2025.
"These agreements illustrate TotalEnergies' commitment to developing its renewable activities in Poland, and in Europe as a whole, to support the European Green Deal," Stephane Michel, president of gas, renewables and power at TotalEnergies, was quoted as saying in the statement.
With the company’s aim of becoming one of the world's top five producers of electricity from wind and solar energy, Michel added that the company wishes to utilize its expertise in offshore wind through a partnership formed with the Polish multinational corporation KGHM.
It also aspires to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 by expanding its portfolio of activities in electricity and renewables.
The company managed to build almost 17 GW of gross renewable electricity generation installed capacity at the end of 2022 and is poised to reach 35 GW of gross production capacity from renewable sources and storage by 2025, and then 100 GW by 2030.
