130-Year-Old Mining Site Embraces Solar+Storage in Partnership with TotalEnergies

Imerys, a world’s leading supplier of mineral-based specialty solutions, is partnering with TotalEnergies to install a large-scale solar power system paired with battery energy storage at its Lompoc facility in Santa Barbara County, California, as part of a long-term energy services contract. This project is in alignment with Imerys’ commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its global facilities and will eliminate approximately 7,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.

TotalEnergies will install, maintain and operate at its Lompoc facility an approximately 15 MWdc ground-mounted solar array and 7.5 MWh energy storage system for Imerys under a 25-year Power Purchase and Storage Services Agreement (PPSSA).

This collaboration is part of Imerys’ decarbonization roadmap in line with its commitment to align with the 1.5°C trajectory. Imerys targets to reduce its CO2 emissions by 42 percent in absolute terms (tCO2eq) by 2030, with 2021 as a base year, based on the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) requirements.

The Lompoc industrial site began its diatomite mining and processing operations in the 1890s. The new renewable power installation will cover 50 percent of the current electrical energy demand of the site.

“This project highlights Imerys’ approach to reducing CO2 emissions and enabling us to produce clean, smart energy across our plants in the Americas. This is a pivotal step to combat climate change and to manage the energy we buy in the region as we continue to invest and develop low-carbon products for our customers as well as extract and transform minerals responsibly and sustainably,” commented Imerys Vice President Performance Minerals Americas Jim Murberger.

The TotalEnergies Distributed Generation USA team first engaged with Imerys to evaluate which of the company’s U.S. facilities offered the greatest viability for solar. Under the PPSSA agreement, TotalEnergies will finance, install and operate the Lompoc facility’s solar-plus-storage system.

“We remain committed to helping Imerys achieve its sustainability goals with projects around the world, now with a focus on their U.S. operations,” said Managing Director of TotalEnergies Distributed Generation USA Eric Potts. “TotalEnergies is proud to be one of Imerys’ energy transition partners, and we applaud the company for investing in solar power and energy storage to reduce its environmental impact.”

TotalEnergies currently has more than 1 GW of signed solar capacity with over 500 business and public agency customers worldwide. The deployment of this capacity is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

The solar-plus-storage system, which is expected to be fully operational in three years, features a ground-mounted single axis tracker solar PV system with bi-facial modules to maximize energy generation and will produce roughly 30 GWh annually.