Hot Topics

5 Houston energy transition news headlines to know for July 2026

Altillion's technology extracts critical minerals like iodine, lithium and copper from oilfield-produced water. Photo courtesy Altillion

Editor's note: Early July has brought exciting developments in the energy transition sector. Here are the five most-read news stories published on EnergyCapitalHTX from July 1-15, 2026, from KBR's Singapore agreement to Yara's Texas City investment.

1. Houston startup secures $5M to turn oilfield wastewater into critical minerals

Altililion

Houston-based startup Altillion has secured $5 million in seed funding to accelerate the commercialization of its proprietary IRIS and ALIX technologies, which convert oilfield-produced water into valuable minerals. Altillion says the funding will go toward pilot facilities and commercial deployments as the company looks to scale in the U.S. Continue reading.

2. Houston's KBR to provide tech for Singapore SAF plant

Houston engineering and technology contractor KBR has been picked as the technology provider for what’s expected to be Asia's first commercial-scale ethanol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant. KBR will provide technology licensing and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) services based on its PureSAF technology. Continue reading.

3. Texas City ammonia plant acquired by Yara in $1.3 billion deal

Yara North America, a subsidiary of Norwegian fertilizer and ammonia producer Yara International, has agreed to buy an ammonia production plant in Texas City for $1.3 billion. The seller is GCA Holdings, an affiliate of Texas City-based chemical manufacturer Gulf Coast Ammonia, which is owned by private equity firms Lotus Infrastructure Partners and MB Energy. Continue reading.

4. 13 Houston energy sector companies make U.S. News' best places to work

A new U.S. News & World Report ranking of the best employers has named two dozen Houston-based companies among the best companies to work in the South, and more than half are part of the region's booming energy sector. Continue reading.

5. Houston energy startup launches to power AI data centers with Microsoft agreement

Buoyed by a purchase agreement from Microsoft, Houston-based Joulent recently launched to build power plants that meet the electricity demands of AI data centers and other computing-heavy industries. Continue reading.

Trending News

A View From HETI

Fervo Energy has released its third-quarter earnings. Photo via fervoenergy.com

Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy saw a 65 percent spike in purchase orders during the third quarter.

During Fervo’s third-quarter earnings call, Tim Latimer, co-founder, chair, president and CEO, said the company had a $11.9 billion backlog of orders, up from $7.2 billion in the previous quarter.

Those numbers didn’t translate to robust financial results in the third quarter, though. It closed the quarter with an operating loss of $43 million on revenue of just $116,000.

Beyond the billions of dollars in signed purchase agreements, Fervo is in talks with prospective customers in the utility, industrial data-center sectors, Latimer said. About half the potential customers are in the data-center sector, 35 percent in the utility sector and 15 percent in the industrial sector.

Latimer said the broad-based demand reflected by the backlog and the discussions with potential customers reinforces the critical need for reliable, readily available power.

“Our approach to power delivery will continue to blend front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter development,” he said. “Grid-connected assets remain the foundation, though behind-the-meter gives customers a faster path to power when transmission time lines lag their need.”

Front-of-the-meter refers to power plants, utility-scale solar and wind farms, large grid batteries, and transmission and distribution infrastructure. Behind-the-meter assets sit on the customer side of the meter, such as backup generators and EV chargers at homes, businesses, factories and other everyday places.

The order backlog isn’t Fervo’s only recent milestone. In late September, the company’s Cape Station geothermal plant in Utah started delivering its first utility-scale geothermal power to the grid. The plant is producing about 33 megawatts of power.

Earlier in September, Fervo signed a 15-year deal to supply about 396 megawatts of power for Google data centers. The power will be delivered in four 99-megawatt batches. The company filed its $1.89 billion IPO this spring.

Trending News