Marathon Petroleum’s 2025 Pivot: Why the Oil Giant Abandoned Distributed Energy

Industry Adoption: Marathon Petroleum’s Strategic U-Turn on Distributed Energy in 2025

Between 2021 and 2024, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) embarked on a calculated, albeit modest, adoption of distributed energy resources. This strategy was not a pivot to becoming a power producer but a pragmatic “self-help” approach to decarbonize its own high-energy operations. The commercial applications were clear and site-specific: leveraging on-site renewables to reduce grid reliance, lower Scope 2 emissions, and improve the carbon intensity of its products. Key examples include the 2023 announcement of a 5-megawatt solar farm to power its Robinson, Illinois refinery and a 2021 power purchase agreement with One Energy to install five wind turbines at its Dickinson, North Dakota renewable diesel facility. This pattern demonstrated a tactical use of mature, bankable technologies—solar and wind—as an operational tool to support its core business of refining and its growing investments in renewable fuels.

However, 2025 marks a sharp inflection point and a strategic reversal. Analysis of the company’s activities this year reveals a conspicuous absence of any new projects or investments in distributed energy. The focus has decisively shifted away from decentralized power generation. Instead, MPC is concentrating its clean energy capital on large-scale, industrial decarbonization technologies that are adjacent to its core competencies. The company’s $163 million allocation to emerging clean energy is not flowing to solar or battery storage but to advancing renewable liquid fuels, blue hydrogen, and carbon capture. A prime example is the February 2025 investment in Comstock Inc. to develop advanced biomass refining. This deliberate pivot signals that MPC has made a strategic choice to decarbonize its existing value chain of molecules (liquid fuels) rather than diversify into the fundamentally different business model of electrons (electricity), creating new opportunities in biofuels while accepting the risk of being sidelined in the accelerating trend of electrification.

Table: Marathon Petroleum’s Strategic Investments in Clean Technology

Table: Marathon Petroleum’s Clean Technology Partnership Evolution

Geography of Marathon Petroleum’s Evolving Energy Strategy

Between 2021 and 2024, Marathon Petroleum’s clean energy activities were geographically anchored to its existing U.S. operational footprint, particularly in the Midwest and on the West Coast. The on-site distributed energy projects were located at key assets: a solar farm in Robinson, Illinois, and wind turbines in Dickinson, North Dakota. This site-specific approach was mirrored in its renewable fuels strategy, with the ADM joint venture for feedstock also centered in North Dakota and the massive refinery conversion with Neste taking place in Martinez, California. This geographic concentration shows that the strategy was to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of existing, high-value assets within the U.S., not to enter new power markets.

From 2025 to today, the geographic focus has not expanded, but it has intensified around its core U.S. midstream and downstream business. The collaboration with Harvest Alaska to bolster LNG infrastructure in Alaska underscores a continued commitment to centralized fossil fuel logistics. The investment in Comstock, while technology-focused, implies future deployment at MPC’s U.S. refineries. The key takeaway is the absence of any geographic diversification into DER markets, either domestically or internationally. MPC’s strategy remains insular, focused on optimizing its established U.S. asset base with adjacent technologies rather than exploring new regions or business models like distributed generation, further cementing its bet on a molecule-based energy future within its home market.

Technology Maturity in Marathon Petroleum’s Clean Energy Approach

From 2021 to 2024, Marathon Petroleum’s approach to technology was bifurcated. For its limited foray into distributed energy, the company exclusively used fully mature, commercially proven technologies: solar photovoltaics and onshore wind. The use of a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the Dickinson wind project further highlights a desire to de-risk its involvement by avoiding capital expenditure and operational responsibility, essentially buying a finished, reliable product. In parallel, its primary focus was on scaling commercially ready renewable fuel technologies, such as the hydro-processing of soybean oil and other bio-feedstocks at its Dickinson and Martinez facilities. This demonstrates a clear preference for technologies that were already at a commercial or scaling phase.

The 2025 strategy reveals a significant shift in technological risk appetite. MPC has moved away from deploying mature DER technologies and is now investing in earlier-stage, but more strategically aligned, innovations. The Comstock investment targets the advancement of lignocellulosic biomass refining—a technology pathway that is still scaling and less mature than the crop-based feedstocks it currently uses. Similarly, its stated interest in blue hydrogen and its partnership with Blue Planet for carbon capture represent a focus on industrial-scale technologies that are still navigating the path to widespread commercialization. This change signals a move up the technology risk curve, from a deployer of mature DER to an enabler and early-adopter of next-generation liquid fuel and decarbonization technologies.

Table: SWOT Analysis of Marathon Petroleum’s Distributed Energy Strategy

Forward-Looking Insights: A Bet on Molecules Over Electrons

The data from 2025 sends an unambiguous signal: Marathon Petroleum is placing its bet on a future of decarbonized liquid fuels, not on a transition into the power sector. The company’s strategic pivot away from even small-scale distributed energy projects in favor of investments in advanced biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture solidifies its identity as a producer of molecules, not electrons. For the year ahead, market actors should expect this trend to continue. Watch for further developments from the Comstock collaboration, as this represents the primary vector of MPC’s clean energy strategy.

Growth will likely come from leveraging its midstream arm, MPLX, to expand infrastructure for natural gas, NGLs, and future low-carbon liquids—not from building out a network of DER assets. The most critical signal to monitor will be external market and regulatory pressures. While profitable in the short term, MPC’s strategy remains vulnerable to the accelerating pace of electrification. Any policy shifts that further favor EVs or any faster-than-expected decline in gasoline and diesel demand could force a painful and rapid re-evaluation of this focused, non-diversified strategy. The key question is not if MPC will invest in clean energy, but whether its chosen path will remain viable as the energy world increasingly electrifies and decentralizes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Marathon Petroleum abandon its distributed energy projects in 2025?
Marathon Petroleum (MPC) abandoned distributed energy to refocus on its core business. It made a strategic choice to decarbonize its value chain of ‘molecules’ (liquid fuels) through investments in advanced biofuels and carbon capture, rather than diversifying into the ‘electrons’ (electricity) business, which is fundamentally different from its expertise in refining.

What was MPC’s distributed energy strategy like before this change?
Between 2021 and 2024, MPC used a modest, ‘self-help’ approach to distributed energy. This involved installing on-site renewables like the 5-megawatt solar farm in Robinson, IL, and wind turbines in Dickinson, ND, with the pragmatic goal of reducing operational emissions and grid reliance, not to become a power producer.

What kind of clean technologies is Marathon Petroleum investing in now?
MPC is now allocating its clean energy capital to technologies that are adjacent to its core competencies. This includes investments in advanced biomass refining (Comstock Inc.), large-scale renewable fuel production (Neste JV), securing low-carbon feedstock like renewable natural gas (LF Bioenergy), and carbon capture technologies (Blue Planet Systems).

What is the main risk of Marathon Petroleum’s new strategy?
The greatest risk is being sidelined by the accelerating trend of electrification. By doubling down on liquid fuels—even low-carbon ones—MPC becomes more vulnerable to the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), which directly erodes demand for its primary products and could lead to stranded assets if policies heavily favor electrification.

So, is Marathon Petroleum no longer investing in any clean energy?
No, that’s incorrect. Marathon Petroleum is still investing in clean energy, but it has pivoted its strategy. Instead of funding on-site solar and wind, it is directing capital—such as a $163 million allocation in 2025—towards developing low-carbon liquid fuels, advancing carbon capture, and exploring blue hydrogen to decarbonize its core operations.