09/29/2021
In July, TotalEnergies announced a strategic collaboration with e-commerce giant Amazon. We met with David Brûlé, Head of Key Accounts at GRP, to hear more about the goals of the agreement and what the future holds.
David Brûlé
Head of Key Accounts at Gas, Renewables & Power
Could you tell us more about this collaboration with the U.S. e-commerce giant?
David Brûlé / For the Company, the immediate goal is to supply 474 megawatts of green energy to Amazon through several power purchase agreements linked to our recently acquired solar power facilities in the United States and Spain. It is the biggest green electricity purchase agreement ever signed that TotalEnergies has ever signed with a client. On our end, we will benefit from Amazon’s expertise as a global leader in cloud technology to speed up and expand our multi-cloud digital strategy. As well as these business commitments, we have set up an ambitious and long-term partnership with Amazon.
What makes this partnership so strategic?
D. B. / For Amazon, it means hands-on support in achieving its sustainable development targets. The U.S. giant has committed to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2040. For TotalEnergies, the aim is to implement the Company’s broad energy strategy with an iconic, exacting client, and, in particular, to meet the growing demand for renewable energy. In terms of digital, we are strengthening our multi-cloud strategy to build on the advantages of each existing platform. This will allow TotalEnergies to benefit from the expertise of its two cloud providers, AWS and Microsoft, while still being able to challenge them and keep its options open. Lastly, these projects are just the first steps in our collaboration, Amazon said we should both “think big”, and other projects are currently being considered.
What can you tell us about what the future holds?
D. B. / The potential is huge – matching the size of our two companies. The first aim is to extend the partnership, in Asia and the Middle East, for example. At the same time, we are also looking at projects around complementary solutions to meet Amazon’s decarbonization ambitions. These include battery-based energy storage, green energy and battery hybridization and green mobility, with ideas such as clean hydrogen, biogas, biofuels and electric charging stations. Let’s not forget that, as well as being an online giant, Amazon is also a unique logistics specialist that intends to contribute to the decarbonization of its ecosystem. When it comes to expertise, project portfolios and our worldwide presence, we are perfectly positioned to support this kind of client. This “key account” partnership is a way to organize a sales approach and an integrated broad energy solution, which will ultimately serve all our customers.