Something is brewing in Mexico, and it’s not just the dreaded Swine Flu. Sustainable energy will be harnessed to harvest a conventional energy source. Thanks to a new innovation, solar energy will be used to pump petroleum from a Mexican oil well.
A solar electric system will be connected to an existing oil pump. This will be implemented by Caledonia-based oil company, Unico. Once implemented, it will be the first ever solar powered pumping station on Mexican soil.
Most of oil wells are far from power grids. Most pumps are powered by generators running on diesel, gasoline, or propane. That means high maintenance costs for fuel supply.
Joseph Glover, Unico’s Vice President on Alternative Energy Division, branded this company’s oil as the “Green Oil” because their process produces less greenhouse gas emissions. If only their final product produced less greenhouse gases, when in use, as well.
In was last December when Glover presented to the Unico board with the idea of using solar energy for their oil pumps. This May, the prototype will be ready to be installed. The solar power station will use 27 solar panels to run the 240-volt motor that will be used to pump oil. The system will also power up the computer-monitoring system of the well.
Glover states that cloudy days should not hamper operations. The only time the solar system will be hampered will be during heavy rainstorms. Their backup plan is to use a gasoline generator, or a fuel cell, so that the oil will keep on flowing.
The solar power system was made with data according to December solar radiation. During the summer months, Unico will have excess energy. They still don’t have any plans as to what they’ll do with it. They can’t sell it back to the local utility company because the wells are off the grid.
The solar power station will cost approximately $75,000 and will have a service life of 20 years. Unico estimates that the payback time will be five to seven years. They point out that, the worse the location, the faster the payback will be.
The costs of fuel and transportation will increase in the future, but the costs of solar panels and batteries will go down as improvements are made in technology.
Isn’t it ironic that fossil fuel companies are already using solar power and other forms of alternative energy in their operations? Green oil might not be the future, but at least it’s a good start.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
As more and more of the individual power stations are designed, improved and installed… the costs should come down, making them more affordable and cost effective.
It is very ironic, but it symbolizes another irony, and that is our dependency for fossil fuel. Come on, we are using sun light to contaminate the planet. The true answer will be switch everything to alternative ways; however, we are light years economically and technically from that too.
.-= Daniel´s last blog ..Flowserve Wins 8 Million Dollard Project =-.
@Alternative Energy – Yep, I agree with you.
@Daniel – I agree, it is pretty ironic … let’s hope we move beyond this stage soon.