ExxonMobil has announced plans to expand its co-generation facilities at the Baytown, Texas, manufacturing complex. This expansion will increase the energy efficiency at the complex’s refinery and two chemical plants, and will help decrease the region’s emissions of greenhouse gases. The project, located on the Baytown Olefins Plant site, will include the addition of a 160mw gas turbine generator, coupled with a heat-recovery unit producing 560,000 pounds per hour of steam used in the manufacturing processes. The new co-generation unit will produce both steam and electricity from clean-burning natural gas at an efficiency rate of about twice traditional power generation. This one generator is large enough to supply the average energy needs of at least 100,000 people in the USA. Construction on the Baytown unit begins in mid-summer 2003, with a peak construction workforce of 200 in early 2004. The facilities are expected to be operational in late 2004.
