Chevron’s Lost Hills Oil Field to Run on Solar Power

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SunPower has started construction on the Lost Hills Solar Project, a 35-megawatt DC (29MW AC) solar facility. Once operational, its energy will power Chevron’s Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County, Calif., under a power purchase agreement. Discovered in 1910, the Lost Hills Oil Field has produced more than 460 million barrels of oil over the past 40 years.

The solar system SunPower is developing will feature Performance Series solar panels assembled in Hillsboro, Ore., and is slated for completion in early 2020. The Lost Hills Solar Project is anticipated to meet about 80 percent of the oil field’s production and processing facilities and offices. Goldman Sachs Renewable Power will own the system and Chevron will receive environmental credits under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program.

Throughout the project’s 20-year term, the facility is estimated to produce more than 1.4 kilowatt-hours of clean energy, which will offset approximately one million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is the equivalent of neutralizing the annual carbon dioxide emissions of 118,550 households.