the view from heti

Houston organization names 6 new members working toward a low-carbon future

The Houston Energy Transition Initiative has added six new members. Photo via htxenergytransition.org

The Greater Houston Partnership’s The Houston Energy Transition Initiative welcomes six new member companies including, one executive level and five investor level. HETI members are champions in their fields, each creating innovative solutions for a sustainable and low-carbon future. Our members are critical to continue to position our region to lead the global energy transition.

Executive Member

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is one of the world’s leading industrial groups, spanning energy, smart infrastructure, industrial machinery, aerospace, and defense. MHI Group combines cutting-edge technology with deep experience to deliver innovative, integrated solutions that help to realize a carbon neutral world, improve the quality of life and ensure a safer world.

Investor Level Members

Eni Next LLC is a corporate venture capital company, created to integrate corporate research, with open innovation, enhancing the value of dynamic and innovative start-ups through early-stage financing and successive capital increases. Eni Next evaluates and invests in companies developing technologies with a lower carbon footprint for energy production, improved efficiency for our industrial operations and digital solutions.

Honeywell International Inc. invents and commercializes technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety, security, air travel, productivity, and global urbanization. They are a leading software-industrial company committed to introducing state of the art technology solutions to improve efficiency, productivity, sustainability, and safety in high growth businesses in broad-based, attractive industrial end markets.

Natixis Investment Managers is a global asset management company. Ranked among the world’s largest asset managers, Natixis delivers a diverse range of solutions across asset classes, styles, and vehicles. The company is dedicated to advancing sustainable finance and developing innovative ESG products.

Stantec is a global design and delivery leader in sustainable engineering, architectural planning, and environmental services. Stantec’s multidisciplinary teams address climate change, urbanization, and infrastructure resiliency. The company is at the forefront of innovations to enhance environmental and social opportunities. The Stantec community unites more than 26,000 employees working in over 400 locations across six continents.

Vopak North America is an independent infrastructure provider with an unrivaled network of 78 terminals in 23 countries and 25+ joint venture partners, connecting the supply and demand for products that are essential to the economy and the daily lives of people around the world. Vopak takes pride in improving access to cleaner energy and feedstocks for a growing world population, ensuring safe, clean and efficient storage and handling of bulk liquid products and gases.

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This article originally ran on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. For more information about the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

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A View From HETI

A rendering of a Quaise Energy geothermal plant. Rendering via quaise.com

Houston-based Quaise Energy, a producer of utility-scale geothermal power, raised $134 million in a Series B round to advance its “superhot” geothermal power plant.

Climate-focused San Francisco-based investment firm Prelude Ventures led the round, with participation from JERA Co., Japan’s largest power generation company, and Idemitsu Kosan, one of Japan’s largest energy companies. Nearly all existing investors, including cleantech-focused investment firm Safar Partners, participated in the round.

“We have backed Quaise since the beginning because we believed accessing superhot rock would unlock geothermal energy at a scale the world has never seen,” Mark Cupta, managing director at Prelude Ventures, said in a press release.

The startup expects more equity and debt deals to close “imminently.” Quaise has raised $230 million since its founding in 2018.

Quaise says some of the fresh funding will go toward building the world’s first commercial-scale “superhot” geothermal power plant —Project Obsidian in central Oregon. In addition, Quaise is earmarking money for continued development and commercialization of its millimeter-wave drilling system toward depths exceeding 5 kilometers (about 16,400 feet).

Quaise uses a millimeter-wave drilling system developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to remove rock at depths and temperatures that aren’t economically feasible with conventional drilling. With this technology, Quaise can reach rock at temperatures of around 570 degrees to 930 degrees in most places worldwide, enabling construction of geothermal systems that rival fossil fuels and nuclear energy in power density and that rival renewables in cost.

“Our ambition is to power civilization with Earth's most compelling energy source. This round takes us from field-proven technology to first commercial revenues,” Carlos Araque, co-founder, president and CEO of Quaise, added in the release.

Quaise has demonstrated the capability of its millimeter-wave drilling system at its Central Texas test site, drilling more than about 330 feet through granite in 2025—the first time the technology penetrated basement rock at full scale in the field. The company is approaching a depth of about 3,300 feet at the same site.

Construction of Project Obsidian is underway at Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest. The project, which has the potential to generate gigawatt-scale power, is slated to deliver electricity to the Pacific Northwest grid by 2030.

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