Chevron tests solar power projects

April 6th, 2010 | 1 Comment

An old refinery in Bakersfield and a rooftop in San Ramon have become unlikely test beds for Chevron Corp.’s quest to learn more about cutting-edge solar technologies.

“We are looking at new and emerging technologies,” said mark Puccinelli, a project manager with Chevron Energy Solutions. “We wanted to study technologies that would work for external customers and get experience with these kinds of technologies.”

San Ramon-based Chevron, one of the world’s largest oil titans, has launched the efforts to test new solar power technologies and scout for ways to determine if solar and other technologies can be used in its in-house energy systems.

One effort, which Chevron has dubbed Project Brightfield, has begun to rise at the site of a former company refinery in Bakersfield.

There, Chevron is testing seven different photovoltaic systems. The project will consist of 7,700 solar panels that will generate about 740 kilowatts of electricity.

“By bringing together seven emerging solar technologies, Project Brightfield represents one of the most comprehensive solar energy tests of its kind and is an innovative approach to evaluating new technologies,” said Des King, president of Chevron Technology Ventures.

The power that is produced at the Bakersfield site will be deployed to the local utility grid as well as to Chevron’s oil production complex at the company’s Kern River Field.

“Testing competing technologies side by side

means that we can better understand their potential application at other Chevron facilities,” King said. Chevron Tech Ventures is the unit of Chevron U.S.A. inc. that identifies, evaluates and demonstrates emerging technologies.

The results will be compared to a more conventional solar technology that’s also installed at the Bakersfield refinery site.

Chevron’s other test has been installed on a roof atop one of the office buildings that comprise Chevron’s headquarters campus in San Ramon.

There, Chevron is testing four solar power systems, including one supplied by Fremont-based solar dynamo Solyndra inc.

“We want to improve energy efficiency across our managed office space,” said Dane Zehrung, an executive with Chevron Business and Real Estate Services, “as well as reduce water flows and material flows.”

Chevron is using other traditional energy complexes as sites for testing new kinds of energy.

Previously, Chevron built a wind farm with 11 turbines on a former Texaco refinery in Wyoming. By the end of this year, Chevron plans to launch a solar energy plant at a mining facility in new Mexico.

“Chevron is mostly hedging its bets with these projects,” said Severin Borenstein, director of the Berkeley-based University of California Energy Institute. “The company sees it’s quite possible that the energy market might move away from fossil fuels.”

Chevron is also a major venture backer of Oakland-based BrightSource Technologies inc., which is attempting to develop a solar energy field on a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert.

“It’s great to see companies willing to try out new technologies to see what works,” Borenstein said. “These sorts of investments help.”

Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477.

Chevron tests solar power projects

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Tags: bakersfield, refinery, san ramon, solar energy