New solar array in San Patricio County will power ExxonMobil/Saudi manufacturing venture
The 187-megawatt Peacock Solar project, designed to help power a manufacturing facility, is under construction north of Corpus Christi in San Patricio County and should be finished next year, a news release from bp America stated Tuesday.
The Peacock Solar project in Taft is designed to help power the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV) plant, which creates “materials used to manufacture clothes, food containers, packaging, agricultural film and construction materials,” the release stated.
The project will help power the facility, which is near the communities of Gregory and Portland.
That plant, which was finished in 2022, is a joint venture between ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia's Basic Industries Corporation, known as SABIC. The Gulf Coast Growth Ventures website notes it has 600 employees, has donated $10 million to community improvements and $135,000 in scholarships to Del Mar College process technology students.
“Ranked among the world’s largest petrochemicals manufacturers, SABIC is a public company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with 70% of the company’s shares owned by Saudi Aramco, with the remaining 30% publicly traded on the Saudi stock exchange,” SABIC’s website stated. The company operates in about 50 countries and has a global workforce of more than 31,000 employees, the website stated.
Moving toward a 'net-zero' future
“We want to be good stewards of our environment,” Andrew Mitton, technical manager at GCGV, said in a statement Tuesday. “Once online, the solar-generated electricity will be used to partially power our plant and help reduce emissions in support of a net-zero future.”
Both bp America and Gulf Coast Growth Ventures touted the environmental benefits they say the project will bring.
“Securing this agreement and kicking off construction of Peacock helps support the transition to lower carbon energy, while benefiting local communities and the economy,” Dave Lawler, bp America's chairman and president, said in prepared statement. “It’s another way bp is accelerating growth of our US solar generation capacity, investing in America, and advancing our transformation to an integrated energy company.”
Its developers say Peacock Solar will generate enough renewable energy annually to power the equivalent of more than 26,000 homes.
“GCGV conservatively calculates this will reduce our emissions about 130 kTA, the equivalent of taking about 29,000 cars off the road for a year,” the manufacturing facility’s managers said in their news release. “That’s an impact of about 5% of the site’s total greenhouse gas emissions.”
The company estimates the solar project could power its facility if necessary when running at peak capacity. “And annually, our calculations indicate this will power about 40 percent of our facility, reducing the strain on the Texas energy grid,” GCGV stated.
Co-developer bp America expects the solar array will go online in the second half of 2024, selling all of its power to the Gulf Coast Growth Ventures complex.
At full capacity, the installation’s “renewable power could avoid more than 256,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year – equivalent to around 55,000 fuel-burning cars,” bp America’s release stated,
The bp America statement also said the project could to create up to 300 jobs during construction, bringing in more than $25 million in tax revenue over the first 25 years of the project’s life.
The solar array was developed by bp America with joint-venture partner Lightsource bp, which is also managing construction on the site.
Correction: The Gulf Coast Growth Ventures plant was finished in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: ExxonMobil and Saudi chemical manufacturer will use solar power array
