Editor's note: From a Houston company winning a big DOE prize to Google expanding its relationship with Fervo Energy, these are the top headlines that resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter this week.
Houston-area energy tech startup wins DOE competition's $100,000 prize
Hertha Metals, based in Conroe, won first place at the 2024 Summer Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Startup Pitch Competition. Photo via DOE
Four startups from across the country won over $160,000 in cash prizes from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transitions earlier this month, and a Houston-area company claimed the top prize.
Hertha Metals, based in Conroe, won first place at the 2024 Summer Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Startup Pitch Competition. The program honors and supports clean energy innovators nominated by clean technology business incubators.
“The EPIC Pitch Competition is a unique opportunity for start ups to highlight their technology, get on the main stage, and receive direct funding,” DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of OTT Vanessa Chan says in a news release. “The startup pitch winners have honed their entrepreneurial skills and demonstrated a critical understanding of their technological impacts, targeted markets, and scalable strategies.” Continue reading.
Oxy announces partnership to explore fusion technology in direct air capture facilities
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures says fusion technology holds the potential to supply emissions-free, continuous, on-demand energy to bolster power and heating requirements for Occidental’s large-scale DAC facilities. Photo via 1pointfive.com
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, an investment arm of Houston-based energy giant Occidental, is teaming up with TAE Technologies to explore the use of TAE’s fusion technology at Occidental’s direct air capture (DAC) facilities.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures says fusion technology holds the potential to supply emissions-free, continuous, on-demand energy to bolster power and heating requirements for Occidental’s large-scale DAC facilities.
“Collaborating with TAE Technologies is an opportunity to build on Occidental’s portfolio of clean power sources that can provide our [DAC] facilities with reliable, emissions-free energy,” Frank Koller, vice president for power development at Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, says. Continue reading.
Houston geothermal company grows relationship with Google to provide power to Nevada
Through a first-of-its-kind proposal, Las Vegas-based public utility NV Energy would supply geothermal power generated by Fervo Energy for Google’s two data centers in Nevada. Screenshot via Google
Houston-based Fervo Energy’s geothermal energy soon will help power the world’s most popular website.
Through a first-of-its-kind proposal, Las Vegas-based public utility NV Energy would supply 115 megawatts of geothermal power generated by Fervo for Google’s two data centers in Nevada. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
In 2021, Google teamed up with Fervo to develop a pilot project for geothermal power in Nevada. Two years later, electricity from this project started flowing into the Nevada grid serving the two Google data centers. Google spent $600 million to build each of the centers, which are in Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, and Storey County, which is east of Reno. Continue reading.
Houston solar energy company names new C-level leadership
Eric Williams has been appointed executive vice president and CFO of Sunnova. Photo via sunnova.com/
Houston’s Sunnova Energy has named a new member to its C suite.
Eric Williams has been appointed executive vice president and CFO of Sunnova, an industry-leading adaptive energy services company. He brings 20 years of experience with 13 years in the energy industry to the company.
Williams replaces Robert Lane. Lane served as Sunnova's executive vice president and CFO from May 2019 to June 2024.
“I was drawn to Sunnova by its commitment to power energy independence and make clean energy more accessible, reliable, and affordable for homeowners and businesses,” Williams says. Continue reading.
Houston SaaS startup on a mission of decarbonizing public transportation secures SBIR grant
ReVolt Battery Technology Corp. is based out of the University of Houston Innovation Center. Photo via revoltbatterytechnology.com
A Houston company that's electrifying public transportation secured a SBIR Phase 1 award from the Department of Transportation.
ReVolt Battery Technology Corp., software-as-a-service company based out of the University of Houston Innovation Center, received the award. The company did not disclose the monetary value of the funding, but indicated that the grant will support ReVolt's "research on reducing auxiliary power consumption in battery electric buses," according to a statement from the company. Continue reading.