TotalEnergies began commercial operations of Myrtle Solar, its largest-to-date operated utility-scale solar farm in the U.S., the company said on Oct. 24.

 Located south of Houston, Myrtle has a capacity of 380 megawatts peak of solar production and 225 megawatt-hours of co-located batteries, according to a release. With 705,000 ground- mounted photovoltaic panels installed — spread over an area equivalent to 1,800 American football fields — Myrtle produces enough green electricity to cover the equivalent consumption of 70,000 homes.

“This startup is another milestone in achieving our goal to build an integrated and profitable position in Texas,” Vincent Stoquart, SVP of renewables at TotalEnergies said in the release. “The project will enable the Company to cover the power needs of some of its biggest U.S. industrial sites with electricity from a renewable source.”

According to the company, 70% of Myrtle’s capacity will supply green electricity to the company’s industrial plants in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. The remaining 30% of Myrtle’s capacity will supply green electricity to publicly traded real estate company Kilroy Realty, under a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement indexed on merchant prices.

The farm is part of the company’s “Go Green” project, which, by 2025, is expected to enable TotalEnergies to meet the power needs and curtail emissions of its industrial sites in Port Arthur and La Porte in Texas and Carville in Louisiana, the release stated.

Myrtle map
The Myrtle solar farm, located south of Houston, features 705,000 ground-mounted photovoltaic panels installed over an area equivalent to 1,800 American football fields. (Source: TotalEnergies)
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