Harnessing the Sun's Energy

Harnessing the Sun's Energy

Solar energy is power from the sun's rays that reach the earth. Using photovoltaic cells made from silicon alloys, sunlight can be converted into other forms of energy, such as heat and electricity. Steam generators using thermal collectors to heat a fluid, such as water, sometimes convert even higher amounts of solar energy into electricity.

Producing More Oil with Solar Power

Chevron is demonstrating how solar energy can increase production from mature oil fields. The project uses more than 7,600 mirrors to focus the sun’s rays onto a solar boiler. This generates steam that is injected into reservoirs to recover more oil.

Volatile oil prices have fueled interest in alternatives such as solar energy. Solar power can help alleviate capacity problems on local utility systems, especially during peak electricity demand periods. It also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the use of electricity generated by fossil-fueled power plants.

What Chevron Is Doing

Chevron Energy Solutions (CES), a Chevron subsidiary, is one of the nation's largest installers of solar energy systems for education institutions. Over the past decade, the company has developed hundreds of projects involving energy efficiency and renewable power for education, government and business customers in the United States.

• San Jose Unified School District – CES installed one of the largest K–12 solar and energy efficiency projects in the United States. CES designed, built and operates the 5.5-megawatt system at 14 San Jose Unified School District sites. Completed in 2009, the project is expected to save the district more than $25 million and to lower carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons over the 25-year life of the project—equivalent to planting more than 1,400 acres (5.7 sq km) of trees.
• Contra Costa Community College District – CES installed one of the largest solar installations at an institution of higher learning in North America, at the Contra Costa Community College District in California. Completed in 2008, the 3.2-megawatt system comprises photovoltaic panels mounted on 34 parking canopies at three campuses. The project, which also includes several energy efficiency measures, is expected to save the district more than $70 million over 25 years.
• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – CES completed one of the nation's largest energy-efficiency and solar electric systems at a transit facility for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). The 1.2-megawatt solar project consists of 6,720 solar panels at Metro's central bus maintenance facility. Along with other energy-efficient improvements, the project is expected to cut the facility's annual $1.1 million energy bill in half and reduce its purchase of utility power, which is anticipated to reduce carbon emissions by more than 3,700 metric tons.
• U.S. Postal Service – CES completed the U.S. Postal Service's largest solar power and energy-efficiency project, at its mail-processing center in Oakland, California, in 2006. The project, which included the installation of energy-efficient equipment, is expected to reduce the facility's power purchases by more than a third. The 910-kilowatt solar power system spans a rooftop area nearly the size of two football fields and will help meet electric demand during peak periods.

As solar technology advances, we are studying the latest methods that aim to harness the sun's energy.
In early 2011 we began operations at a 1-megawatt concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) solar facility at our molybdenum mine in Questa, N.M.. Approximately 175 solar panels are installed on 20 acres (.08 sq km), making it one of the largest CPV installations in the United States.
At our worldwide headquarters in San Ramon, California, CES installed a solar demonstration project designed to test current and emerging solar technologies for facility project planning and potential future use at Chevron facilities. And at the site of one of our former refineries in Bakersfield, California, we started Project Brightfield to test the performance of seven new thin-film technologies and a new crystalline-silicon photovoltaic technology.