Exxon Wants To Go Renewable In Texas, Including Solar

According to people familiar with the industry, for quite a while now, Exxon Mobil Corp. has been looking to buy renewable energy for transmission in Texas. 

The biggest U.S. oil company sent out a petition for proposals with a June 8 deadline, inviting solar or wind power suppliers to pitch contracts that would last 12, 15 or 20 years, according to a report obtained by Bloomberg and people with knowledge who asked not to be named discussing confidential matters. Exxon, based in Irving, Texas, is investigating at least 100 megawatts and would consider proposals for more than 250 megawatts.

“I have never seen an oil and gas company doing a corporate PPA anywhere near that size,” stated Kyle Harrison, a New York-based analyst at Bloomberg NEF, relating to the power-purchase agreements used to buy power. “If you’re seeing the biggest oil and gas companies going out and making investments in clean energy, it shows that renewables are cost-competitive. This can be a way for them to show a commitment to sustainability without suffering economically.”

It’s not obvious whether Exxon has reached an agreement with any supplier to buy this power, nor whether it was investigating the electricity for its own use. If an agreement is reached, it could more than double the 84 megawatts that other oil and gas companies have lined up through long-term power-purchase contracts, according to BNEF.

“We continually evaluate opportunities to supply power for our facilities,” Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri spoke by email.

Big Oil Vs Solar

Exxon has been reluctant to follow Big Oil rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc into renewable electricity technologies. While Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods acknowledges the “risk of climate change” and also is testing whether biofuel made from algae can operate on an industrial scale, he said earlier this year that the company’s investment dollars would follow oil magnate John D. Rockefeller’s bet-on-what-you-know mantra.

But as the cost of renewable power declines, the group may see the value in consuming wind or solar, even if it eschews creating that kind of energy. Texas is the biggest wind-producing U.S. state, with power prices occasionally going the opposite direction l on windy days, and solar power is competitive than coal in many parts of the world.

Solar Business Grows

The quantity of businesses contracting to buy renewables continues to expand. Excluding utilities, businesses and agencies agreed to buy 7.2 gigawatts of clean energy worldwide through July, breaking the record of 5.4 gigawatts for all of 2017, according to BNEF.

“Good to see them dipping their toe in the water, but we’ll have to wait to see if they put their foot in the water,” stated Amy Myers Jaffe, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York.

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