2025 Valero Report on Guiding Principles - Flipbook - Page 34
Renewable Energy and Ef昀椀ciency
Initiatives
The cogeneration unit at our
Pembroke re昀椀nery reduces
our reliance on the local power
grid and increases energy
ef昀椀ciency.
In 2024, roughly 26% of our total re昀椀nery energy consumption
originated from renewable sources, including:
Hydropower – More than 99% of the electricity used at our
Quebec City re昀椀nery comes from renewable sources – mainly
hydropower, with small portions from wind, biomass, solar and
thermal.
Wind Power – Adjacent to our McKee re昀椀nery in the Texas
Panhandle, our wind farm includes 33 wind turbines with up to
50 megawatts of power generation capacity.
Cogeneration Plants – Fueled mainly by natural gas, our
cogeneration plants reduce our dependency on local power
grids, which are often costlier. Cogeneration is a highly
ef昀椀cient and reliable way of producing electricity and steam
(for the re昀椀nery process). Valero has cogeneration systems at
re昀椀neries in Wilmington, Benicia, Port Arthur and Pembroke.
Expanders – At six of our re昀椀neries, we have installed
“expanders” on processing units that generate power from
exhaust gases. In all, our expanders are designed with the
capacity to annually displace more than 600,000 tons
of carbon dioxide that otherwise would be generated by
conventional power plants.
Heat Transfer – Our re昀椀neries utilize heat integration
technology to improve energy ef昀椀ciency and reduce energyrelated operating expenses. Heat exchangers enable the
transfer of thermal energy from high temperature process
streams to lower temperature streams, decreasing natural
gas or re昀椀nery fuel gas needs for heating and lowering utilities
requirements for cooling and corresponding emissions.
Refinery Energy Intensity33
Re昀椀nery energy
intensity has
declined by more
than 11% since
2012 with capital
investments,
including 昀氀aregas recovery
and other
energy ef昀椀ciency
projects.
(Million Btu/bbl throughput)
0.44
0.39
2012
34
2013
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2024
