Chevron's focus on developing and deploying renewable and
alternative energy is part of a longer-term strategy to invest profitably
in promising low- or zero-carbon technologies. To meet the
growing energy demands of the global economy, all sources of
energy — including conventional and nonconventional fossil fuels,
renewable energy, and increased efficiency and conservation —
will be needed. One of the challenges of meeting this demand
through the increased use of renewable sources is ensuring
availability on a very large scale and at an affordable price.
Geothermal Energy
Today, Chevron is the largest producer of
geothermal energy in the world. Our operations
in Indonesia and the Philippines have
a combined installed capacity of 1,273 megawatts,
including our most recent addition
to the geothermal fleet: the 110-megawatt
Darajat Unit III in Garut, West Java,
Indonesia. This capacity provides enough
renewable energy to meet the needs of 16
million people in these countries.
Technology and Innovation
Our Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV)
subsidiary manages innovation, commercialization
and integration of emerging
technologies, including renewable energy
applications. Renewable technologies that
CTV is investigating include advanced biofuels, advanced solar applications, engineered
geothermal energy, ocean energy
and bioenergy.
Chevron Energy Solutions Co. (CES)
applies proven energy efficiency and
renewable power technologies — such as
infrastructure systems, energy controls,
solar power, biomass and fuel cells — to
meet the facility needs of institutional
customers. CES also collaborates with
other Chevron groups to support internal
energy efficiency, reliability and renewable
energy projects.
In 2008, CES completed an innovative,
energy-efficient central utility plant to
provide reliable steam, chilled water and
power for the U.S. government's National Interagency Biodefense Campus at Fort
Detrick in Frederick, Maryland.
Solar Energy
Today's advanced solar technologies present
significant opportunities to harness
the sun's rays to generate large amounts
of energy. Whether generating electricity
using photovoltaic cells or using the
heat to create stored thermal energy, we
are applying these state-of-the-art solar
technologies at our own operations and on
behalf of the clients we serve through CES.
CES completed a 3.4-megawatt solar
photovoltaic system for the Milpitas Unified
School District in California. Solar arrays
at 14 sites are expected to generate 75
percent of the annual power needs for the
district and decrease carbon emissions by
more than 23,000 metric tons. The project
is designed to reduce energy costs by 22
percent, resulting in $12 million in savings
for the school district over the life of the
solar power system.
Chevron became a sponsor in 2008 of the
Lighting a Billion Lives Campaign, organized
by The Energy and Resources Institute in
India. The project provides solar lanterns to
households without electricity that usually
use kerosene or paraffin torches. The institute
is seeking to replace these inefficient,
high-polluting light sources with a safer,
sustainable and clean alternative. Our support
enabled the installation of a charging
station in one village and provided 50 lanterns
— one for each family in the village
Emerging Fuels
At Chevron, we believe that long-term
solutions to meet demand for transportation
fuels must involve a range of innovative
alternatives that supplement petroleum
products, alternatives that can be produced
at commercial scale and affordably. We are
investing in targeted research and development
projects to discover new sources of
untapped energy and make the best use of
the energy sources we currently have.
Biofuels
CTV has established strategic alliances
to research and develop new feedstocks
and new process technologies for converting
nonfood biomass into transportation
fuels at commercial scale. Our research
collaborations include industrial partners the U.S. Department of Energy's National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Georgia
Institute of Technology, Texas A&M
University, the University of California
at Davis, and the Colorado Center for
Biorefining and Biofuels.
Formed in 2008, Catchlight Energy LLC,
our joint venture with Weyerhaeuser Co., is
currently focused on discovering, developing
or acquiring technology for converting
forestry-based cellulose into transportation
fuels. Drawing on Weyerhaeuser's expertise
in growing, harvesting and processing large
amounts of biomass on its forestlands and
Chevron's expertise in processing, marketing
and distributing liquid fuels, Catchlight
is evaluating various technologies, types
of vegetation and growth management
methods to be used for the commercialscale
production of sustainable cellulosic
biofuel. Catchlight is pursuing the concept
of "intercropping" — growing cellulosic
biomass in the spaces between trees on
Weyerhaeuser's managed forestlands in
the United States.
Through CTV, we also are assessing a
variety of biomass sources to identify
potential feedstocks that could be available
on a commercial scale. We are investigating
various types of nonfood biomass and are evaluating mechanisms for acquiring
it in sufficiently large quantities. At the
same time, we are working with biomass
experts to help avoid any long-term
adverse impacts from production and to
incorporate the three major components of
sustainability — environmental protection,
economic feasibility and the minimization
of social impacts — at the front end of any
new biomass initiatives.
Our research partnerships with universities
continue to be an important part of
our alternative energy activities. In 2008, a
number of projects moved from bench-scale
research and development activities into
the planning phase for pilot-scale testing of
innovative biofuel production technologies.
Hydrogen
Chevron owns and operates five U.S.
demonstration hydrogen fueling stations
as part of a multiyear study with the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE). When initiating
the DOE's hydrogen program in 2004,
our objectives were twofold:
- To demonstrate safe, practical hydrogen technologies in real-world settings.
- To identify and overcome key technical challenges.
This five-year demonstration program,
scheduled to conclude in December 2009,
accomplished these objectives. We constructed
and operated the five stations
successfully and safely, using a variety of
advanced technologies to produce hydrogen
from different sources (natural gas
and water). The stations serviced several
vehicle types, including fuel cell vehicles,
hybrid electric fuel cell buses and internal
combustion engine buses.
For hydrogen to play a larger role in
meeting future world energy demand,
some technical hurdles will need to be
overcome. First, the energy density of
hydrogen is much smaller than that of
gasoline, so delivering the same amount
of energy would require hydrogen storage
and fueling facilities about two to
four times larger than comparable gasoline
stations. Also, the cost of hydrogen
is still much higher than that of gasoline,
and while some of the cost differential
may decrease at larger scales, it is not
expected to become cost competitive
for many years. Through demonstration
projects, Chevron and DOE have a much
better understanding today of hydrogen's
promise and what it will take for hydrogen
to become a widespread fuel for
the future.
Updated: May 2009