teaming up

Houston energy company's European arm enters into offshore carbon storage project

Fidelis New Energy's newly announced Norne Carbon Storage Hub in Denmark has announced a new customer. Photo courtesy of Fidelis

A Houston company has signed onto an offshore carbon storage deal in Denmark.

Fidelis New Energy Europe, the European arm of Houston-headquartered Fidelis New Energy, and Norway-based Carbon Centric have signed a letter of intent for Fidelis recently announced Norne Carbon Storage Hub in Denmark. With the agreement, Norne will "safely and permanently store CO2 emissions of Carbon Centric's clients," according to a news release.

"Norne enables the safe and environmentally friendly decarbonization of key segments of the Danish and European economies while ensuring industries remain globally competitive due to the low overall costs of CO2 mitigation," Bengt Jarlsjo, co-founder, president, and COO of Fidelis, says in a news release. "This announcement with Carbon Centric is an important milestone for the decarbonization of Denmark and Northern Europe. We look forward to our continued collaboration with Carbon Centric."

Carbon Centric plans to store around 800,000 tons of CO2 annually with Norne by 2027, according to the release, and the company's CO2 will be moved to Fidelis' CO2 reception facility at the Port of Aalborg. Carbon Centric has carbon management already underway in Norway and Iceland, with others planned in Denmark and Sweden.

"At Carbon Centric we have been looking for a company like Fidelis that will be able to ensure cost-effective large scale carbon storage for our clients. Norne is visionary with its ability to scale up quickly and will allow us to build out our businesses together," Kenneth Juul, Carbon Centric chief commercial officer and co-founder, says in the release. "With Denmark's foresight of moving quickly toward onshore carbon storage and with Fidelis' plans and prior three years of work on the Norne vision to provide carbon storage solutions on both Jutland and Zealand, we see a great opportunity to expand our activities in Denmark."

Carbon Centric is just the latest customer for the Norne Carbon Storage Hub, which was announced in May by Fidelis. The facility is billed as being "safe, ESG-friendly, and economically advantaged." The hub reportedly aims to store more than 20 million tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

Earlier this month, Fidelis New Energy selected Mason County, West Virginia selected Mason County, West Virginia, as the site for its carbon neutral hydrogen production facility and low carbon microgrid — The Mountaineer GigaSystem and the Monarch Cloud Campus for data centers powered by net-zero hydrogen.

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A View From HETI

Robert J. Gaudette will take over as NRG's new CEO on April 30. Photo via NRG.com.

Houston-based NRG Energy Inc. announced Jan. 7 that it has appointed Robert J. Gaudette as president and CEO. Gaudette took over as president effective Jan. 7 and will assume the role of CEO April 30, coinciding with the company's next stockholder meeting.

Gaudette, who previously served as executive vice president and president of NRG Business and Wholesale Operations, will succeed Lawrence Coben in the leadership roles. Coben will remain an advisor to NRG through the end of the year and will also continue to serve as board chair until April 30. Antonio Carrillo, lead independent director at NRG, will take over as board chair.

"Rob has played a central role in strengthening NRG’s position as a leader in our industry through strategic growth, operational excellence, and customer-focused innovation," Coben said in the news release. "He is a strong, decisive leader with extensive knowledge of our business, markets, and customers. The Board and I are confident that Rob is the right person to lead NRG forward and take the NRG rocket ship to new heights. I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

Gaudette has been with NRG since 2001. He has served as EVP of NRG Business and Market Operations since 2022 and president of NRG Business and Market Operations since 2024. In these roles, he led NRG’s power generation and oversaw its portfolio of commercial and industrial products and services as well as its market operations, according to the company.

He has held various executive leadership roles at NRG. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from The College of William and Mary and an MBA at Rice University, where he was a Jones Scholar. He also served four years as an Army officer.

“It is an honor to be appointed NRG’s next CEO at this transformative time for the energy sector and our company,” Gaudette said in the release. “With NRG’s electricity, natural gas and smart home portfolio, we are ideally positioned to meet America’s evolving energy needs. I am grateful to Larry and all my NRG colleagues, both past and present, who built our great company and positioned us for the future. I look forward to leading our incredible team to deliver affordable, resilient power for the customers and communities we serve, while creating substantial value for our shareholders.”

In addition to its traditional power generation and electricity businesses, NRG has been working to develop a 1-gigawatt virtual power plant by connecting thousands of decentralized energy sources by 2035 in an effort to meet Texas’ surging energy demands.

The company announced partnerships last year with two California-based companies to bolster home battery use and grow its network. NRG has said the VPP could provide energy to 200,000 homes during peak demand.

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