Flint Hills Resources to build solar farm to help power Corpus Christi West refinery

Flint Hills Resources will build a solar installation to help power its Corpus Christi West refinery in Texas.

When complete, the 27-Mw solar installation will include about 56,700 panels with a peak capacity of roughly 28% of the refinery's power needs, the company said in a release Aug. 1.

The $52-million project, aimed at lowering annual energy costs, improving energy efficiency, and reducing grid emissions, will be sited on about 100 acres of Flint Hill’s property off Interstate Highway 37 in Corpus Christi.

The Corpus Christi West refinery produces jet fuel, ultra-low sulfur diesel and gasoline, and various chemical-building blocks used in everyday products, the company said.

DEPCOM Power, Scottsdale, Ariz., has been selected as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the project. Both Flint Hills Resources and DEPCOM are subsidiaries of Koch Companies LLC.

DEPCOM recently completed construction of a similar solar project (45-Mw) at Flint Hills Resources' Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount, Minn.

The Corpus Chrisi West project is believed to be the second largest utility scale solar complex in the area and the first solar project in Texas to provide onsite, self-generated electricity directly to an oil refinery, Flint Hills said.

The installation will be Corpus Christi West’s second source of on-site power generation. The refinery also operates a combined heat and power (CHP) system, which provides about 30 Mw of electricity.

At peak capacity, CHP and solar installation together could satisfy up to 60% of the Corpus Christi West refinery's daily power needs.