Chevron Solar Test Site

In Sunday's Courier-Journal (March 28, 2010) there was an article entitled "Chevron puts solar technology to the test" by Tiffany Hsu of the Los Angeles Times. The article talks about how the oil company Chevron will convert an old refinery into a solar energy testbed. The eight acre site will become home to over 7,000 solar panels from a variety of different manufacturers.


Since 1992, Chevron has been using hydrogen fuel cells and photovoltaic energy sources to cut its dependence on traditional power generation by one-third. The company estimates it has saved about 3 billion dollars. Of the money saved, Chevron is planning on spending $2 billion on renewable power over the next several years.


Currently, Chevron has launched Project Brightfield to test the usability and efficiency of solar panels from these companies: Sharp, Abound Solar, Schuco, Solar Frontier Limited, Solibro, MiaSole, and Innovalight. The electricity from the panels estimated to amount to 740 kW will power Kern River oil field facility. The project is to last three years helping Chevron evaluate the different panels.