BP starts building US solar plant to power Exxon-SABIC petrochemical project

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–UK energy firm BP has started building a solar project in Texas that will supply electricity to the joint venture petrochemical project of ExxonMobil and SABIC in the US Gulf Coast.

The Peacock Solar project will have a capacity of 187 megawatts defined conditions (MWdc) is located 10 miles north of Corpus Christi in San Patricio County, BP said on 26 September.

Financial details of the solar project were not disclosed.

BP’s 50:50 joint-venture partner – global solar firm Lightsource bp – is developing the project and managing the construction on behalf of the UK energy firm.

“Peacock will sell all of the electricity it generates under a long-term power purchase agreement to Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV), a joint venture between ExxonMobil and SABIC, which produces materials used to manufacture clothes, food containers, packaging, agricultural film and construction materials,” it said.

GCGV’s complex in Corpus Christi has a 1.8m tonne/year cracker; two polyethylene (PE) production units with a combined capacity of 1.3m tonnes/year; and a 1.1m tonne/year ethylene glycols unit, according to ICIS Supply and Demand Database

“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,” GCGV president Paul Fritsch said.

Start of commercial operations at the complex, which is a joint venture between US energy giant ExxonMobil and Saudi petrochemical major SABIC, was announced in January 2022.

The Peacock solar project is part of BP’s “aim to invest in and build renewable energy capacity of 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030”, it stated.