seeing green

Houston organizations announce new partner, plans for clean industrial hub

These organizations are teaming up to advance development of a regional clean industrial hub. Photo by Katya Horner

Two Houston organizations that are on a mission to make Houston a leader in the energy transition have announced new plans for a hub focused on decarbonization.

The Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the Center for Houston’s Future have teamed up with the Mission Possible Partnership, with support from the Bezos Earth Fund, to lead the city of Houston through the accelerated development of a regional clean industrial hub geared at decarbonization of the industrial sector, including petrochemicals, cement plants, heavy transportation, and more.

The two-year project is focused on development and deployment of clean energy projects — such as "low-carbon hydrogen, carbon capture, use and storage, electrification of industrial processes, and the production and use of low carbon fuels," according to a press release.

“There is no geography in the world better positioned to support the transition to and integration of abundant, low-carbon energy solutions than Houston," says Jane Stricker, executive director and senior vice president of HETI, in the release. "As the Energy Transition Capital of the World, Houston is leveraging its energy leadership to accelerate global solutions for a low-carbon future. This partnership with MPP is a critical component in the region’s efforts to develop and deploy technologies, policies and strategies for broad decarbonization."

MPP, a nonprofit alliance of climate leaders launched in 2020 focused on energizing decarbonization, is supported by RMI, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Energy Transition Commission, World Economic Forum, and We Mean Business.

“The Center for Houston’s Future has been leading HETI’s clean hydrogen initiative with the goal of making Houston a global clean hydrogen leader," says Brett Perlman, CEO of the Center for Houston’s Future. "We’re now pleased to work with Mission Possible Project and leverage the MPP team’s deep subject matter expertise in clean hydrogen and experience in creating hydrogen ecosystems."

In October, HETI released a report calling for the region to aim for $150 billion in capital earmarked for the sector by 2040. The report indicated that about $15 billion in energy transition capital is flowing into the region each year and about $25 billion is flowing out of the region. Of the $25 billion, oil and gas players with headquarters or a significant presence in Houston account for more than 80 percent.

“Increased energy transition capital commitment from energy incumbents raises investor confidence in Houston’s potential for energy transition leadership,” reads the report.

The Center for Houston's Future had a report of its own that published earlier this year and makes the argument of how Houston-based assets can be leveraged to lead a global clean hydrogen innovation.

“It should come as no surprise that Houston, the energy capital of the world, is taking the lead in the emerging low emissions energy ecosystem,” says Bryan Fisher, director of hubs at MPP and managing director of RMI’s Climate-Aligned Industries, in the release. “MPP’s work with HETI and the Center for Houston’s Future will focus on a portfolio of solutions, including low carbon fuels, clean hydrogen, and CCUS to drive sustainability and equitable economic growth for the region.”

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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A View From HETI

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental, said the company's Stratos DAC project is on track to begin capturing CO2 later this year. Photo via 1pointfive.com

Houston-based Occidental Petroleum is gearing up to start removing CO2 from the atmosphere at its $1.3 billion direct air capture (DAC) project in the Midland-Odessa area.

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Occidental, said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call that the Stratos project — being developed by carbon capture and sequestration subsidiary 1PointFive — is on track to begin capturing CO2 later this year.

“We are immensely proud of the achievements to date and the exceptional record of safety performance as we advance towards commercial startup,” Hollub said of Stratos.

Carbon dioxide captured by Stratos will be stored underground or be used for enhanced oil recovery.

Oxy says Stratos is the world’s largest DAC facility. It’s designed to pull 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the air and either store it underground or use it for enhanced oil recovery. Enhanced oil recovery extracts oil from unproductive reservoirs.

Most of the carbon credits that’ll be generated by Stratos through 2030 have already been sold to organizations such as Airbus, AT&T, All Nippon Airways, Amazon, the Houston Astros, the Houston Texans, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks and TD Bank.

The infrastructure business of investment manager BlackRock has pumped $550 million into Stratos through a joint venture with 1PointFive.

As it gears up to kick off operations at Stratos, Occidental is also in talks with XRG, the energy investment arm of the United Arab Emirates-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., to form a joint venture for the development of a DAC facility in South Texas. Occidental has been awarded up to $650 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to build the South Texas DAC hub.

The South Texas project, to be located on the storied King Ranch, will be close to industrial facilities and energy infrastructure along the Gulf Coast. Initially, the roughly 165-square-mile site is expected to capture 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, with the potential to store up to 3 billion metric tons of CO2 per year.

“We believe that carbon capture and DAC, in particular, will be instrumental in shaping the future energy landscape,” Hollub said.

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