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    Phillips 66+NextEra: Historic Fossil Fuel Refiner Teams with Renewable Developer on 30-MW Solar Facility

    Dec. 12, 2024
    NextEra Energy Resources will build, own and operate the solar farm, to be located on approximately 88 acres owned by Phillips 66. The renewable energy could reduce grid power demand at the Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex by 50% annually.
    Aerial of Rodeo Renewable Energy refinery. Screen grab credit Phillips 66 website
    Aerial of Rodeo Renewable Energy refinery. Screen grab credit Phillips 66 website

    A former oil refinery along San Francisco Bay is now producing renewable diesel and will be powered by a nearby solar farm currently under construction.

    Refining and gas marketing firm Phillips 66 is working with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources on the 30.2-MW solar project. Phillips 66’s Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex, converted from fossil fuel refining, began producing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) earlier this year.

    NextEra Energy Resources will build, own and operate the solar farm, to be located on approximately 88 acres owned by Phillips 66. The renewable energy could reduce grid power demand at the Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex by 50% annually while avoiding an estimated 33,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

    The solar farm is poised to be operational early next year.

    “This project will not only benefit Phillips 66’s operations and the customers who rely on its renewable fuels but also demonstrates how renewable energy can integrate seamlessly into industrial operations,” said Rebecca Kujawa, president & CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, in a statement.

    The solar farm on the land by Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex will include more than 70,000 modules and is designed to generate close to 60,000 MWh of carbon-free electricity per year.

    As for Phillips 66, its reinvented Rodeo Refinery near San Francisco is now producing close to 27,000 barrels of renewable diesel per day (bpd), with a goal toward achieving a rate of 800 million gallons annually (50K bpd) by the end of 2025’s second quarter.

    Image credit Phillips 66
    phillips_66_refinery

    “The project advances Phillips 66’s long-held strategy to expand our renewable fuels production, lower our carbon footprint and provide reliable, affordable energy while creating long-term value for our shareholders,” Rich Harbison, the company’s executive vice president of refining, said when the Rodeo Renewable Energy Complex entered commercial operations in April.

    Earlier this month, United Airlines announced an agreement under which Phillips 66 will supply at least three million gallons of SAF for use at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The deal with United also includes 600,000 gallons for the airline at Los Angeles International Airport by the end of this year.

    Renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel are bio products refined from waste streams such as animal and vegetable fats and oils. The biofuels help remove methane emissions from the environment.

    See EnergyTech's Full Coverage of Biofuels

    Many Paths to Net Zero in the C&I Energy Transition

    Phillips 66 is one of the oil and gas industry’s long-running brands, dating back to when Frank Phillips founded Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1917 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The oilfield drilling and production soon expanded into refining, marketing and transportation under the Phillips 66 brand, adding the tie-in to the Route 66 roadway.

    Phillips Petroleum merged with Conoco Inc. to become ConocoPhillips in 2002. Ten years later, the company’s leaders decided to split the refining and pipeline side into Phillips 66, while ConocoPhillips focused on pure-play oil and gas production.

    Oil and Gas Journal Coverage of Decarbonization 

    See OGJ's Energy Transition Page

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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