Thousands of solar panels to carry oil from one side of Spain to the other

2023-05-14 16:08:36

The company that exploits 4,000 kilometers of pipelines in Spain to transport oil and fuels and which also manages almost forty plants with hundreds of hydrocarbon storage tanks has decided to embark on building solar power plants to power its facilities.

For Exilewhich is how it has been renamed to the old Hydrocarbons Logistics Company (CLH), the cost of purchasing electricity is the second largest item in its cost structure, only behind salary costs. And in addition, electricity consumption is the main source of the company’s greenhouse effect emissions (the group has just approved moving forward a decade, to 2040, its goal of having zero net emissions).

Powering the large facilities to transport hydrocarbons and store it in tanks last year consumed some 260 gigawatt hours (GWh) in Spain alone, 80% of all the electricity demand from its activities in the eight countries in which it is present. The group already has electricity purchase contracts with guarantees of renewable origin (up to almost a quarter of its total demand), but now it wants to become a large self-producer of its electricity to raise the weight of green energy and to lower the energy bill it supports.

“We bought a lot of energy to be able to feed the pumping systems of the oil pipelines. We are starting up our own solar plants to generate energy and be able to move the oil, reducing the energy cost”, explains the CEO of Exolum, Jorge Lanza, which recognizes the blow caused by the increases in the price of electricity last year due to the energy crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Self-consumption photovoltaic plant at the Exolum facilities in Mora (Toledo). EXOLUMUS

Three plants in operation, three in the pipeline

Exolum already has three operating self-consumption photovoltaic plants in Spain activated last year, and is working on the commissioning of another three in the short term. Nails on joint investments of 10 million euros For its construction, the group estimates that the six plants and the expansion of some of them will serve to cover 10% of all the company’s electricity consumption, but the goal is to reach at least 20% with new installationsas the CEO acknowledged this week in a meeting with the press.

The former CLH has operating photovoltaic plants in Mora (Toledo); in Barcelona, ​​which has already been expanded three times and works are already underway to expand the facility for the fourth time; and in Algeciras, where the group is working to complete its third and final phase of construction at the end of this year. Exolum is also now finishing the construction of a new self-consumption solar plant in Huelva and is processing permits to build two other facilities in Poblete (Ciudad Real) and Arahal (Seville).

In addition to strengthening the network of self-consumption plants with single energy, the company claims to study other alternatives to reduce its emissions, such as supply of third parties with electricity from renewable sources through long-term contracts (PPA, according to the jargon of the sector) and the application of new, more efficient technologies with lower consumption in their pumping systems. Exolum is using pipeline scheduling systems, and is also usingfriction reduction additives in the transport of hydrocarbons through the pipes to save energy and applies algorithms to dose these additives and maximize their efficiency.