Oil and gas company Getka is installing a new solar farm at one of the world's largest oil storage sites.
Getka Group will build up to 40MW of solar generation in Cushing, Oklahoma to power data centers, terminal operations, and pipelines in the fossil fuel facility - and says the solar capacity amounts to progress in decarbonization.
“Getka is committed to meaningful development that decarbonizes the industry,” said Dariusz Cichocki, Chairman and CEO of Getka Group. “Getka isn’t just purchasing offsets, but we are setting a standard for the physical reduction in emissions. While the world still relies on oil and gas to serve its energy supply, Getka’s integrated energy strategy combines investments in low carbon technologies with responsible oil and refined products production and delivery. We are rethinking energy and rebuilding energy infrastructure to adapt to the world’s changing needs.”
The solar plant will power portable (modular) industrial data centers from Plexis Corp, which will provide processing power to Getka and to other customers, according to Getka CEO Dariusz Cichocki, who spoke to DCD.
Cheeky
"We're an oil company, we're an energy company," said Cichocki. "Our background is primarily oil and gas, so we are kind of being cheeky by building the solar farm in the world's most prolific oil storage site. I think that there's a pretty interesting dynamic to play with traditional hydrocarbon movements," he said, promising that Getka would be finding "sophisticated" ways to couple this power with big data: "That's where the data centers come into play."
The system will also supply power to Getka’s planned oil terminal expansion in Cushing, which will incorporate proprietary tank designs to minimize and capture emissions and utilize solar power for terminal operations.
Cushing is one of the largest oil storage tank farms in the world, with more than a dozen oil pipelines connecting to the city and capacity to store 91 million barrels of oil.
