French oil and gas company Total is one of the world’s major oil and gas groups with activities in more than 130 countries. The company employs 96,000 people in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and marketing or gas and power and trading. The Group is also a first rank player in chemicals.
Total SA announced Monday that it will commence building a solar panel plant in the Moselle region of France early next year.
The company declared the site chosen for this production plant will be on the site of Composite Park located on the town of Moselle piglets. The construction of this plant for the manufacturing and assembly of photovoltaic panels will cover an area of 2,800 square meters. The plant will house two production lines with a total capacity of 50 megawatts peak (MWp), about 220,000 solar panels a year. The commissioning of the first line (25 MWp) is slated for 2011 year end. Construction will commence in early 2011. The first production line is expected to begin operating toward the end of next year.
Though shares in Total SA slipped 3 cents to $53.88 in afternoon trading, notwithstanding the president of Total Gas & Power Philippe Boisseau said, "The production unit, situated near our French, German and Northern European customers, allows us to strengthen our market capabilities".
With the launch of this plant announced in 2009, Total reaffirms its socio-economic commitments in the Moselle. The plant is expected to generate 80 jobs locally.
Total and Solar Energy
Total has been working in the field of solar energy since 1983 through its interests in two companies, Photovoltech and Tenesol. Total alongside GDF SUEZ holds a 50% interest in Photovoltech, which produces photovoltaic cells based on a crystalline silicon technology. Tenesol specializes in designing, manufacturing, marketing and operating solar photovoltaic energy systems, in which Total holds a 50% stake alongside EDF.
In December 2008, Total became the biggest shareholder in U.S. start-up Konarka, which develops products based on organic solar technologies. Total’s stake is now nearly 25%.
In June 2010, Total acquired a 25.4% interest in AE Polysilicon, another U.S. start-up specialized in a new solar polysilicon production technology.
Also Total was selected by the authorities in Abu Dhabi to build and operate the concentrated solar power plant Shams, in June this year. Total’s partner in this project is Abengoa Solar, a Spanish company with expertise in concentrated solar power technology. Construction has since begun and completion is expected to take approximately two years.
Total is also involved in conducting significant R&D through partnerships with world-class laboratories in France, such as the Ecole Polytechnique engineering school’s Laboratoire de Physique des Interfaces et des Couches Minces (LPICM - Interface and Thin Film Physics Laboratory) and the Toulouse-based Laboratory for Analysis and Architecture of Systems (LAAS), as well as in the United States, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany.
Total in Moselle
Total is present in Moselle through its petrochemicals (Total Petrochemicals France) and specialty chemicals (Cray Valley) activities at the Carling-Saint-Avold industrial platform.
Building a solar module plant will strengthen the Group’s presence in the region. At the same time, it supports economic revitalization initiatives undertaken by Total Petrochemicals France as part of voluntary agreements signed in 2007 and 2010 and which, thanks to a €1.3-million donation, led to the creation of Composite Park.