page_title: Solar thermal enhanced oil recovery
section_title: Belridge Solar
hierarchical_section_title: Solar thermal enhanced oil recovery / Current projects / Belridge Solar
caption_attribution_description: English: A rendering of the Belridge facility, which, when done, will be the largest solar facility in California.
context_page_description: Solar thermal enhanced oil recovery is a form of thermal enhanced oil recovery, a technique applied by oil producers to extract more oil from maturing oil fields. Solar EOR uses solar thermal arrays to concentrate the sun's energy to heat water and generate steam. The steam is injected into an oil reservoir to reduce the viscosity, or thin, heavy crude thus facilitating its flow to the surface. Thermal recovery processes, also known as steam injection, have traditionally burned natural gas to produce steam. Solar EOR is proving to be a viable alternative to gas-fired steam production for the oil industry. Solar EOR can generate the same quality steam as natural gas, reaching temperatures up to 750˚F and 2,500 PSI.
  While typical fuel-fired steamflood operations inject steam into the ground at a constant rate, research conducted by leading oil producers shows that variable rate steam injection has no negative impact on production levels. In effect, solar EOR could supply up to 80 percent of a field's annual steam requirements, by injecting solar-generated steam during the sunny hours, and a reduced amount of gas-fired steam at night or in less sunny weather or climates.
context_section_description: The Belridge Solar Project is a joint venture between GlassPoint Solar and Aera Energy. The project was announced in November 2017 and, when completed, is projected to produce approximately 12 million barrels of steam per year through a 850MW thermal solar steam generator. The project will be located at the South Belridge Oil Field, near Bakersfield, California, and will be the state's largest solar EOR field when completed. It will also cut carbon emissions from the facility by 376,000 metric tons per year.
caption: A rendering of future solar field at South Belridge
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