Critics call the campaign lip service. Big oil companies, however, say they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to research and develop alternative and renewable power sources — not only as part of the green movement, but with serious hopes of cashing in when the technologies are broadly commercialized.

Some of that spending has been, or soon will be, in Colorado, which is attracting attention as an alternative-energy hub.

“These technologies that we are investing in are going to be part of the energy mix, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly down the road,” said BP spokeswoman Sarah Howell. “We are putting a lot of money into it now.”

In 2007, BP spent $750 million, or 10 percent of its U.S. capital budget, on developing alternative and renewable technologies, which include solar and wind energy and biofuels. The company has said it will spend $8 billion from 2005 through 2014.

“By the end of this year, we expect to have 1,000 megawatts of U.S. wind power capacity on line, increasing to 2,400 megawatts by the end of 2010,” BP American chairman Bob Malone told the House Select committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming last month, according to a transcript.

BP is a partner on a $480 million, 300-megawatt wind farm in Weld County that began operating in November.

Chevron is also accelerating its investments in the renewable field. The company has earmarked $2.5 billion for renewable- and alternative-energy development through 2009 after spending $2 billion from 2002 to 2007.

Chevron Energy Solutions, which launched in 2000, generates about $300 million a year and is growing 20 percent annually, according to Jim Davis, the division’s president.

“Back in 2000, solar, wind, biomass and fuel cells were not quite as developed as they are today, so the primary mission of Chevron Energy Solutions was to provide energy efficiency and conservation services,” Davis said. “Now that the renewable market has taken off and the cost of those technologies has become more cost competitive, we have integrated the renewables into the scope of our energy-efficiency projects.”

Colorado projects

Much of the renewable work has been done in California, but the company hopes to soon announce solar and bio mass projects in Colorado, Davis said. The projects will provide both retail and wholesale power.

ConocoPhillips plans to spend $150 million in 2008 on the development of unconventional oil and gas resources and the development of new energy sources. The company recently purchased a 432-acre campus in Louisville that will serve as a hub for its alternative-energy research.

The company is more focused on developing liquid fuels from renewable sources, rather than wind and solar generation that other major oil companies such as Shell and BP are embracing. Shell co-owns a wind farm in Lamar and is involved in 11 wind projects in the U.S. and Europe.

Despite their growing efforts, the majors still aren’t going full bore on renewable and alternative energy development, said energy consultant Mike Lynch.

“They are being relatively cautious, which is probably for the good, compared to the ’70s when they threw huge amounts of money into things that turned out not to be very viable,” Lynch said.

He noted the oil-shale bust, which included Exxon Corp. pulling the plug on its Colony project in 1982, leaving thousands of western Colorado residents unemployed.

Exxon Mobil, the company formed after the 1999 merger between Exxon and Mobil, was publicly challenged recently by the Rockefeller family to boost its renewable-energy research. Descendants of the Rockefellers founded the company that became Exxon Mobil.

Forging partnerships

Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for Exxon, said the company is developing several technologies connected to its expertise, such as a synthetic motor oil that improves engine efficiency by up to 2 percent and super lightweight automotive plastics. But none of the company’s in-house research is focused on renewable-power generation.

In 2002, Exxon committed $100 million over 10 years to Stanford University to fund the research and development of cleaner power sources.

Big oil companies should forge partnerships instead of doing renewable R&D themselves, so they can focus on their core business, said Matt Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co., a energy investment banking firm in Houston.

“All of the major oil companies are having an awful hard time trying to keep their production (from falling),” Simmons said. “They should stick to that as opposed to giving all of this lip service.”

Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or [email protected]

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_9213804

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