Solar power helps run California oil wells

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., June 5 (UPI) -- One of the largest solar power projects in the nation has been completed in California's San Joaquin Valley where 4,800 solar panels will be used to help run oil wells for ChevronTexaco.

The 6-acre Solarmine facility, 40 miles southwest of Bakersfield, will provide 500 kilowatts of power to the Midway-Sunset oil field, making it one of the largest photovoltaic solar installations in the United States.

"This project allows ChevronTexaco the opportunity to demonstrate the viability of a new solar technology for commercial and industrial applications, including oil field operations," said Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions.

The solar array is also the largest in the world using amorphous-silicon technology, which its developer, Energy Conversion Devices, says makes panels more resistant to dings and other damage that can compromise the generation capacity of current panels made from glass.

"The completion of this project is an important milestone in the development of thin-film solar energy solutions," said ECD President Stanford Ovshinsky. "This facility is a good example of how this solar technology has quickly matured and become a viable solution for commercial and industrial situations requiring high-energy production."

ChevronTexaco has a 20-percent stake in Michigan-based ECD, which is the parent company of United Solar systems, the firm that manufactured the 18-foot long panels.

Solar power isn't the first cutting-edge technology used at the Midway-Sunset field, which was discovered in 1894. An Energy Department project in the 1990s injected a continuous flow of steam into the aging field, allowing wells to begin pumping crude from significant deposits trapped under a 200- to 300-foot deposit of sand.