Flint Hills Resources to Build Second Solar Installation to Power Corpus Christi Refinery

Flint Hills Resources will build second company-owned solar installation to help power its U.S. refinery operations. The new solar installation will supply electricity to the Corpus Christi West refinery, which produces jet fuel, ultra-low sulfur diesel, gasoline, and chemical-building blocks for numerous everyday products.

The project is expected to be the second-largest utility-scale solar complex in the Corpus Christi area and the first in Texas to provide onsite, self-generated electricity directly to an oil refinery. Upon completion, the 27-megawatt installation will feature approximately 56,700 panels and is projected to reduce annual energy costs, enhance energy efficiency, and lower grid emissions. The project will be situated on roughly 100 acres of the company’s property within the west refinery complex off Interstate Highway 37 in Corpus Christi, TX.

The facility’s solar energy production will generate enough electricity to power more than 5,100 homes annually, with a peak capacity covering approximately 28% of the refinery’s power needs. The estimated cost of the project is $53 million.

“We continue to improve our refinery operations and make progress toward our vision of being the best refining company in the industry,” said Jeff Ramsey, President and CEO of Flint Hills Resources. “We are proving that large-scale solar can be successfully integrated into large, complex industrial facilities, helping to lower costs while maintaining reliability and improving our environmental performance.”

“This is an uncommon project and exciting opportunity to integrate solar directly into a large refinery complex, reliably and at a lower cost than conventional, retail power,” said John Schroeder, DEPCOM’s Executive Vice President of Distributed Energy. “You don’t often see utility-scale projects for a single facility and while this may be among the first projects of its kind at this scale in Texas, it won’t be the last. Distributed solar generation is proving to be a competitive and reliable source of power for many energy-intensive industries.”