Calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the most recent data show that more is being spent on new rolling out new renewable energy capacity than on new fossil fuels projects for the first time, despite the financial crisis and difficulties faced in reaching binding agreements in the United Nations climate change talks.
According to the market intelligence specialist, renewable power generation projects (wind, sun, ocean and biomass) attracted $187 billion in 2010 compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal.
“The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable,” United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary, Achim Steiner, said in an interview with Bloomberg. “You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis.”
While much of this investment is being made by companies solely dedicated to renewables development, or utilities looking for cheaper and cleaner ways of generating power, ever more oil companies are turning to renewable energy as a way of diversifying their business and mitigating the eventual decline in revenues from dwindling fossil fuel supplies.
Chevron, a world leader in developing and delivering energy from oil and natural gas, is one such company. It reports that while fossil fuels “will remain the world's predominant sources of energy for decades to come”, society “will need every energy source available, including efficiency and renewables… to meet the growing demand of developing economies”.
Synergies with oil and gas experience
Chevron is therefore using “the skills honed during more than 130 years of experience in finding, producing and delivering energy” in an effort to promote the commercial-scale development of renewable resources.
The US oil giant says it is focusing on renewable energy technologies that are “scalable, sustainable and profitable” and is taking “a pragmatic approach to renewable energy” —pursuing and focusing on technologies that leverage its strengths.
These include geothermal, advanced biofuels, solar and energy efficiency technologies. The company is conducting internal research and collaborating with governments, businesses and academia in researching and developing alternative and renewable energy sources. As a result of this work, Chevron claims it is already the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world, supplying 1,273 megawatts of installed electricity-generating capacity in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Its facilities provide enough energy to meet the needs of 16 million people in these countries. “Technologies and processes used in geothermal production have much in common with those for oil and gas. Chevron leverages its experience in reservoir characterization and safe and efficient drilling to produce this renewable resource created by the heat of the earth,” says the company.
Energy efficiency and biogas
Chevron has also adopted the philosophy that the best energy is the energy we do not consume, and therefore its subsidiary, Chevron Energy Solutions (CES), is dedicated to helping its clients and our company become more energy efficient and reduce emissions through facility upgrades and the incorporation of renewable and alternative energy sources.
Meanwhile, in May 2010, CES and the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Ga., began construction for the Navy’s first landfill gas cogeneration project. The facility will produce 1.9 megawatts of renewable electric power and steam by burning gas generated by a nearby landfill. When combined with lighting retrofits and an expansion of the existing energy management control system, the project is expected to reduce the base’s carbon emissions by 19,300 tons per year, equivalent to removing 16,000 cars from the road.
Advancing solar technologies
Chevron also believes solar power “can help alleviate capacity problems on local utility grids and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the use of electricity from fossil-fueled power plants”. In early 2011, another subsidiary, Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) therefore began operations at what may be the largest concentrating solar photovoltaic power plant in the United States. The demonstration plant, at Chevron Mining Inc.'s Questa Mine in New Mexico, uses lenses to focus sunlight onto three-layer solar cells. The technology is anticipated to be twice as efficient as traditional solar panels and generate about 1 megawatt of power to be sold to a local utility.
In October 2011, CTV also launched the world’s largest “solar-enhanced oil recovery project”. This unique demonstration in Coalinga, Calif., is expected to help show how solar technologies can increase oil production without increasing the carbon footprint.
More than 7,600 mirrors direct the sun's energy onto a boiler to generate steam. The steam is injected into wells to enable the flow of oil. “The demonstration will help determine whether solar thermal technology is viable for deploying in commercial-scale projects at other Chevron facilities,” reveals the company. CTV contracted with BrightSource Energy, Inc., a company Chevron has invested in since 2007, for engineering, procurement and construction of the project, which is allowing BrightSource to explore non-traditional applications of solar technology for the oil and gas industry.
Biofuels: a compliment
Chevron is also focusing on biofuels, saying that they “complement conventional transportation fuels” and will play an increasing role in meeting the world's growing energy needs.
The company is active in all three categories of biofuels—first, second, and third generation, and reveals that almost all of the gasoline Chevron sells in the United States contains ethanol, a first-generation biofuel derived from edible sugars and starches. The company also conducts research on "advanced" second- and third-generation biofuels, ensuring raw materials do not materially impact food or feed supplies.
In 2008, for example, Chevron and Weyerhaeuser Co., one of the world's largest forest-products companies, formed Catchlight Energy LLC, a 50-50 joint-venture company focused on developing next-generation renewable transportation fuels from forest-based sources.
“We believe alternative and renewable energy sources will play a role in meeting future energy demand—how large a role depends on many factors, including advances in technology, public acceptance and economic viability,” says Chevron. “That's one reason Chevron is a global partner of the Cleantech Open, which encourages clean technology innovation and small-business development. Our collaborative partnership helps bring emerging technologies together with companies to deliver the world's energy today and in the future.”
[Photo: Chevron's concentrating solar photovoltaic power plant at Chevron Mining Inc.'s Questa Mine in New Mexico (US)]
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