Adding Green: HighPeak, Power Advance WildHorse Solar priority

Midland Basin oil producers HighPeak Energy and Priority Power have launched the nearly 10-MW WildHorse solar farm in Texas’ Flat Top operating area, the companies announced May 30.

The Howard County facility, developed and owned by Priority Power, is expected to generate enough electricity to power nearly 3,700 homes and reduce CO emissions by more than 18 million tons (MMmt)₂ emissions. Electricity generated from the solar farm will power HighPeak’s operations, which the company says will reduce costs and minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

“The 10 megawatts generated by this project will lower our energy costs, protect us from summer spikes in spot energy prices, and reduce our carbon footprint,” HighPeak CEO Mike Hollis said in a statement. “HighPeak powered our drilling rigs with grid power, and now we drill with power supplied directly by the sun in West Texas.”

The solar farm’s completion and commissioning comes as energy demand grows in the Permian Basin, operators diversify their energy sources and as competition for energy – including from data centers and bitcoin miners – intensifies along with temperatures and prices.

Interconnection challenges are increasingly prompting some oil and gas companies to look for other energy sources and non-standard solutions.

HighPeak in the Permian Basin has turned to solar power, while others have used wind power. For example, NextEra Energy worked with Pioneer Natural Resources Co. – currently part of Exxon Mobil Corp. – and Targa Resources in building a 140 MW wind farm in Midland County. The 51-turbine wind farm, called the Pioneer Hutt Wind Energy Centre, was commissioned earlier this year.

Other Permian players could use small nuclear reactors for energy purposes. Oklo Inc. based in California, a developer of nuclear power plants, announced in April that it had signed a letter of intent with Diamondback Energy regarding cooperation in the field of a power purchase agreement for 20 years. The agreement focuses on the use of Oklo’s Aurora plants, which are scalable liquid metal-cooled and metal-fueled fast reactors that produce useful heat and power ranging from 15 MW to 50 MW of electricity.

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Projected load demand in the Permian Basin area served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) could increase to 17.2 gigawatts (GW) by 2032 from 4.2 GW, according to an S&P Global report on electrification in the basin in 2022. Electricity is not only used to power artificial lifts and well plate manufacturing plants, but is also used to power pumps for water treatment and collection systems.

But the oil and gas sector is not the only one craving more power.

“Every large energy user is competing for the next electron, including oil and gas operators, legacy companies, hyperscale data centers and new energy sources such as hydrogen plants,” Priority Power CEO Brandon Schwertner said in a press release. “Just this year, the value of 100 megawatts of energy over the next 10 years has already increased by $100 million, and the pressure for further escalation remains.”

In addition to managing the interconnection process for WildHorse, Priority Power’s scope of work included turnkey design, construction, engineering, procurement and construction of the wind farm.

“This project exemplifies HighPeak’s commitment to being a sustainable operator while delivering shareholder value,” said Danny Smedley, managing director and vice president of Priority Power. “At a time when energy prices in Texas are highly volatile, the WildHorse solar farm has the added benefit of reducing HighPeak’s operating costs while providing clean and reliable energy.”

In 2021, HighPeak partnered with an independent energy service provider.