ConocoPhillips' R&D campus project a go

While firm throttles back on renewable fuels, plan powers forward

Gargi Chakrabarty

Published November 8, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Mark Leffingwell / Boulder Daily Camera

ConocoPhillips bought this 432-acre campus in Louisville to house its Global Technology Center and Corporate Learning Center. The company plans to research hydrogen fuel cells, solar and wind power, and clean diesel fuel.

ConocoPhillips' plan for a sprawling campus in Louisville that would research hydrogen fuel cells, solar and wind power, and clean diesel fuel is progressing despite the energy giant's decision to scale back investment in renewable fuels.

The company bought the 432-acre campus this year for $58.5 million to house its Global Technology Center and Corporate Learning Center.

Gov. Bill Ritter, state and local officials hailed the research-and-development campus as another step toward Colorado's new energy economy, and most expect ConocoPhillips to hire thousands of employees at the campus.

"There are two different purposes for the property in Louisville: the Corporate Learning Center, where we'll train our work force worldwide, and the Global Technology Center, slated to do renewable and alternative fuel research," spokeswoman Tracy Harlow said.

"While maybe as a company we are scaling back in renewables in the best interest of shareholders, there still are opportunities for us in that area," she said. "At this point, there are no plans to change our plans slated for Colorado."

ConocoPhillips Chairman and Chief Executive James J. Mulva, in a Wall Street Journal report, cited the credit crisis as part of the reason for the company's decision to postpone more investment in renewable fuels.

"We want to live within our means," Mulva said. "We would like to become more of a complete energy company. That strategy has not changed. The timing by which we would do it is going to take longer."

ConocoPhillips "took a hard look at diversifying into renewable fuels, as well as coal and nuclear," he said, "but only in the past few months decided against it." The company, he added, "doesn't plan to abandon current research efforts."

According to congressional testimony in May, ConocoPhillips said it spent about $150 million last year on research into renewables, about 1 percent of its capital budget. The company bought the Louisville property from Sun Microsystems, which had acquired the campus when it bought out StorageTek in 2005 for $4.1 billion.

The campus is mostly vacant. It houses numerous buildings, warehouses and manufacturing facilities, most of which will be torn down. The new campus is expected to be finished three or four years.

Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said that the group "stayed on constant conversation with ConocoPhillips" and that "the research-and-development campus won't see much of a change."

"This announcement doesn't sound like an abandonment of their long-term strategy," Clark said. "From the beginning, the research-and-development site was going to focus on better, cleaner and efficient carbon-based fuels.

"Their intent was to look at ways to transition from a carbon economy to a cleaner economy and then to migrate to renewables."

For now, ConocoPhillips is still on track, plans are in the design stage and the company is figuring out "what to do, how big will the center be, what will we teach there, what will the facility look like," Clark said.

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