French oil major TotalEnergies and Czech energy conglomerate EPH have finalised a partnership that creates one of Europe's largest gas power producers. The deal, announced on 29 April, gives TotalEnergies a 50 percent stake in EPH's flexible power generation portfolio across France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The portfolio includes 14 gigawatts of operational and under-construction assets, of which 12.5 GW are fossil gas-fired — equivalent to the entire gas power capacity of Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Sweden combined.
In exchange, EPH received shares in TotalEnergies valued at approximately €5.1 billion, making it one of the French company's largest shareholders. The venture, named TTEP, is presented by TotalEnergies as central to its 'Clean Firm Power' initiative, which aims to deliver round-the-clock, low-carbon electricity to industrial clients by pairing intermittent renewables with flexible gas plants.
Campaigners question the 'flexible' label
A report by campaign group Beyond Fossil Fuels (BFF) warns that the venture could “deepen Europe’s dependence on costly imported fossil gas, increase energy bills and slow down Europe’s clean energy transition”. The report highlights that 87 percent of the joint venture's gas units in operation or under construction use combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology, which is designed for sustained, efficient baseload generation rather than rapid response. CCGT plants take longer to start up and are less efficient when ramping up and down frequently. Research by French non-profit Reclaim Finance has shown that using CCGTs for flexible demand reduces their durability and profitability while increasing CO₂ and air pollutant emissions.
Open cycle gas turbines (OCGT), which can reach full power in minutes, are typically preferred for grid balancing. Of the operational plants in the joint venture, only two — Trapani in Sicily and Kilroot in the UK — are OCGTs.
Gas still plays a role, but at what cost?
Natural gas consumption for power generation rose nearly eight percent in Europe in 2025, driven partly by periods of low wind and hydro output, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). ENTSO-E, the body representing European grid operators, states that flexible generation is “essential to ensure a secure, efficient, and resilient European power system as the share of renewables continues to grow”. However, in a November 2025 report, ENTSO-E concludes that storage, smarter grid management, and unlocking flexibility from renewables themselves are the long-term answer to meeting climate targets while maintaining reliability.
European governments currently provide capacity subsidies to keep power plants available for grid stress periods. BFF has found that approximately €90 billion was allocated to capacity payments in Europe between 2014 and 2024, with more than half going to gas and other fossil fuel assets. The TTEP joint venture is likely to rely heavily on these subsidies. In its November 2025 investor presentation, TotalEnergies referred to Italy's “attractive capacity remuneration mechanism” and the UK's “attractive capacity market”. BFF claims that more than half of the plants in the joint venture were financed by capacity market subsidies between 2015 and 2024, totalling over €4.08 billion.
Vertical integration and LNG dependency
The deal also serves TotalEnergies' core gas trading business. The company estimates the joint venture will consume around two million tonnes of LNG per year, effectively creating a guaranteed internal market for gas it sources globally. Rather than competing on the open market, TotalEnergies can sell gas to its own power plants, collecting revenue at both the supply and generation ends of the chain.
“Everyone loses in this deal — except the oil and gas companies already cashing in big,” says BFF campaigner Brigitte Alarcon. “Far from putting Europe on the path of energy security, TotalEnergies and EPH will be engineering further dependency on fossil gas… under the bogus pretence of adding ‘flexgen’ capacity.” BFF estimates that over a five-year period, these imports could cost Europe between €6.68 billion and €7.56 billion, benefiting mostly US and Russian fossil industries. In the same period, the joint venture could produce climate emissions rivaling those of Ireland or Denmark in a year.
Legal and reputational clouds
Questions have previously arisen about both companies' stated ambitions. In October 2025, a Paris court found TotalEnergies' climate advertising illegal, ruling that its claims to have “climate at the heart of its strategy” were misleading given the company's continued expansion of oil and gas production. TotalEnergies plans to increase LNG production by three percent per year until 2030 and has the largest short-term fossil fuel expansion plans — measured by number of countries — of any oil and gas major. EPH, meanwhile, is controlled by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, whose energy holdings span multiple European countries.
The TTEP deal underscores a broader tension in European energy policy: the need for flexible backup to support renewables versus the risk of locking in fossil fuel infrastructure for another decade. As the EU pushes toward its 2050 climate neutrality goal, decisions like this will shape whether the continent's power system becomes truly clean or remains tethered to imported gas.
