A big solar power plant is heading towards a big oil operation in Texas – pv magazine USA
A 270 MW project built by Black & Veatch is planned to help power Buckeye Partners’ operations. The Texas company owns about 6,000 miles of oil pipeline.
Black & Veatch announced that it has been selected as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company for the 270 MW Parker Solar Project in Central Texas. Buckeye Partners of Houston, which stores, transports and ships crude oil and petroleum products, commissioned the project.
The 500,000-panel project is expected to be located at two nearby sites near Waco, Texas. Construction is expected to be completed early next year. Buckeye announced its initial investment in the project last August.
“Our strategy is all about energy diversity and low-carbon solutions,” said Todd J. Russo, director of Buckeye. “The Parker project will further expand Buckeye’s growing renewable portfolio.”
Black & Veatch has a long history with solar, developing and implementing terrestrial and floating photovoltaic systems since 1973. The EPC company is 100% employee-owned and 2020 revenues exceeded $3 billion.
Buckeye Partners increased its stake in renewable energy while pursuing its environmental, social and governance plan. In a 2020 year-end report, the oil piper said it was actively developing eight solar projects with a total capacity of 570 MW in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Texas and the Bahamas.
Network modernization
Black & Veatch also recently released a new e-book, Network Modernization 2022: Reliability and Resilience. The book offers a practical guide to network modernization. Black & Veatch said that in 2020 the US Department of Energy recorded 383 power outages, more than double the total from three years earlier. Not only do outages cause human suffering, B&V said, but they also cost the US economy between $28 billion and $169 billion a year.
“Megatrends such as digitalization and decarbonization, coupled with growing climate change impacts and cybersecurity risks, mean that the industry’s core product of providing reliable, always-on electricity services is under serious threat.” , said Kevin Ludwig, Head of Network Solutions, Black & Veatch. “The good news is that our networks can be designed to handle a wide range of severe conditions and threats as long as network operators can reliably assess, plan and predict risk.”
The US Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in November, provides $550 billion in spending to rebuild roads and bridges, water infrastructure, resilience, internet, etc., and modernize the network should be a key part of the law.
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