sun-powered peacock

BP breaks ground​ on Texas solar farm, plans to open it next year

BP's solar park is scheduled to begin operating in the second half of 2024. Photo via bp.com

British energy giant BP, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, has started construction on a 187-megawatt solar farm about 10 miles northeast of Corpus Christi.

The Peacock Solar facility will generate power for a nearby chemical complex operated by Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, a joint venture between Spring-based energy company ExxonMobil and SABIC, a Saudi Arabian chemical conglomerate whose products are used to make clothes, food containers, packaging, agricultural film, and construction materials. SABIC’s Americas headquarters is in Houston.

Gulf Coast Growth Ventures opened the plant in 2022. The joint venture says the ethylene cracker and derivatives complex, located northwest of the town of Gregory, employs about 600 people.

BP says the solar project, which is expected to create about 300 construction jobs, will produce enough energy each year to power the equivalent of 34,000 homes. The solar park is scheduled to begin operating in the second half of 2024.

“We want to be good stewards of our environment,” Paul Fritsch, president of Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, says in a BP news release. “Once online, the solar-generated electricity will be used to partially power our plant and help reduce emissions in support of a net-zero future.”

At full capacity, Peacock’s renewable power could keep more than 256,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere each year, BP says.

BP’s joint venture partner, British solar company Lightsource BP, is developing the solar project and managing construction on behalf of BP. In 2017, BP bought a 43 percent stake in Lightsource and now holds a 50 percent stake.

Canadian contractor PCL Construction is providing construction and engineering services for the solar setup, and Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar and Norwalk, Connecticut-based GameChange Solar are supplying the solar equipment.

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A View From HETI

Energytech Nexus has named its first COPILOT accelerator cohort. Photo via Getty Images.

Energytech Nexus, a Houston-based incubator for energy startups, has named its inaugural cohort of 14 companies for the new COPILOT accelerator.

COPILOT partners with Browning the Green Space, a nonprofit that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the clean energy and climatech sectors. The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory backs the COPILOT accelerator.

The eight-month COPILOT program offers mentorship, training and networking for startups. Program participants will be tasked with developing pilot projects for their innovations.

Two Houston startups are members of the first COPILOT class:

  • GeoFuels, housed at Houston’s Greentown Labs, has come up with a novel approach to hydrogen production that relies on geothermal power and methane decomposition.
  • PolyQor, which converts plastic waste into eco-friendly construction materials. Its flagship EcoGrete product is an additive for concrete that enhances its properties while reducing carbon emissions. PolyQor’s headquarters is at Houston’s Greentown Labs.

Other members of the COPILOT cohort are:

  • Birmingham, Alabama-based Accelerate Wind, developer of a wind turbine for commercial buildings.
  • Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Aquora Biosystems, which specializes in organic waste biorefineries.
  • Phoenix-based EarthEn Energy, a developer of technology for thermo-mechanical energy storage.
  • New York City-based Electromaim, which installs small hydro-generators in buildings’ water systems.
  • Chandler, Arizona-based EnKoat, an advanced materials company whose flagship product, the IntelliKoat System, is a patented two-layer thermal and weather barrier roof coating for flat and low-slope commercial buildings.
  • Calgary, Canada-based Harber Coatings, which manufactures electroless nickel coating and electroless nickel plating.
  • Dallas-based Janta Power, which designs and makes 3D solar towers.
  • Miami-based NanoSieve, a developer of gas remediation technology.
  • Palo Alto, California-based Popper Power, which has developed a platform that turns streetlight networks into resilient, maintenance-free distributed charging infrastructure.
  • Buffalo, New York-based Siva Powers America, developer of small wind turbines for farms, utility companies and others with annual energy needs of 300,000 to 2 million kilowatt-hours.
  • Los Angeles-based Thermoshade, which specializes in cooling panels for outdoor environments.
  • Waukesha, Wisconsin-based V-Glass, Inc., developer of a vacuum-insulated glass for affordable high-efficiency windows.

“These startups reflect the future of energy access and resilience innovation,” said Juliana Garaizar, founding partner of Energytech Nexus. “By connecting them directly with partners through

COPILOT, we’re helping them overcome the ‘pilot gap’ to build solutions that scale.”

The startups will run pilot projects along the Gulf Coast for their inventions.

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