Total continues to expand into renewable energy with the purchase of Global Wind Power (GWP) France, a company with a 1GW wind power portfolio, including 250MW to come on stream by 2025.

The French oil major is buying the developer through its renewables unit Total Quadran.

“Following Vents d’Oc’ acquisition in 2019, this new investment demonstrates Total’s commitment to expand in all types of renewable energy while contributing to France's energy transition goals,” said Philippe Sauquet, president gas, renewables and power at Total.

“It strengthens Total Quadran’s footprint adding to its existing portfolio of nearly 1,000MW of installed and operated capacity, including over 500MW of onshore wind and confirms its ambition to be one of the main players on France’s renewables market.”

GWP’s development pipeline is far greater than that of Vents d’Oc, a developer with a 200MW pipeline Total Quadran had acquired in August 2019.

The oil & gas company targets to “low-carbon” electricity operations to make up 15-20% of its sales mix by 2040. Total currently has a “low-carbon” power generation capacity of close to 7GW, of which more than 3GW are from renewable sources.

So far, the main focus of the company’s renewables ambition had been in the solar sector, where it has announced 5GW in projects since the beginning of this year. Total has a 25GW renewable generation capacity target for 2025. Total Quadran’s French renewable plants in operation currently have more than 900MW in capacity.