the view from heti

25 years of innovation: Repsol exec on Houston's role in the energy transition

Caton Fenz, CEO for Repsol’s Renewables North America, shares more about Repsol’s approach to expanding its renewable footprint, integrating green energy into its core business and leveraging Houston’s unique role as a leader in the energy transition. Photo via HETI

Houston hosted the inaugural Energy + Climate Startup Week in September, which brought together leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders and startups from around the world to showcase the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry while driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

Repsol was one of the inaugural sponsors for the weeks kick off event that hosted several leading startups. This year marked 25 years of energy innovation for Repsol in the United States. As the energy landscape evolves, Repsol has committed to significant growth in renewable capacity, with an impressive 720 MW of solar and storage capacity already operational and 1.5 GW under construction.

Caton Fenz, CEO for Repsol’s Renewables North America shares more about Repsol’s approach to expanding its renewable footprint, integrating green energy into its core business and leveraging Houston’s unique role as a leader in the energy transition. Here’s an inside look at Repsol’s milestones and future goals in the journey toward decarbonization and a sustainable energy future.

Can you tell us more about Repsol’s strategy for expanding its renewables business?

This year Repsol is celebrating 25 years of energy development in the United States. Across the US, we have a team of more than 800 employees, with more than 130 employees working in the renewables business specifically.

Repsol’s growth ambition in the US renewable energy market is significant. Since launching our renewables activity in the US three years ago, we have installed more than 720 MW of solar generation and energy storage capacity. Today we have more than 1.5 GW of additional solar and energy storage capacity under construction, and more than 20 GW of solar, wind and energy storage in development across 13 states.

How does Repsol plan to integrate renewable energy sources into its broader business model?

Repsol Renewables operates in accordance with Repsol’s values and strategies. Renewable energy generation is one of the pillars of Repsol’s decarbonization strategy. Repsol will invest between €3 and 4 billion to organically develop its global project portfolio and aims to reach between 9,000 MW and 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2027. Of this, 30% will be in the United States.

With these objectives in mind, we have been able to accelerate the development of wind, solar, and energy storage across the US market and the globe. By expanding our renewable energy business, we can further meet record demand growth for renewable energy.

What are the key projects or milestones that have been achieved within Repsol’s renewables portfolio so far?

Earlier this year, we announced the commercial operation of Frye Solar, our largest solar project worldwide. This project, located in Swisher County, Texas, has a total capacity of 637 MW. And as noted above, we have an additional 1.4 GW of projects under construction currently. These major energy infrastructure projects are indicative of the scale of our operations in the US.

Why does Repsol believe being located in Houston is critical for its business, particularly in the energy transition?

Repsol is proudly committed to Houston’s role in developing and delivering energy and value for the world. Houston is known as the Energy Capital of the World and over the next 10 years, we’ll see it be known as the Energy Transition Capital of the World. With Repsol’s Renewables North America business located in downtown Houston, we have access to talent and partnerships in a booming city filled with energy experts.

Why does Repsol see value in participating in Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week?

At Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week, Repsol Renewables is honored to support and learn from leaders and investors in the energy and climate industry. We believe it is important to continuously invest in talent, ideas, and collaboration across the energy value chain as we pursue our net zero by 2050 goal.

———

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.

Trending News

A View From HETI

20-plus companies will pitch at Energy Tech Nexus' Pilotathon during Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week. Photo via Getty Images.

Energy Tech Nexus will host its Pilotathon and Showcase as part of Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week next Tuesday, Sept. 16, featuring insightful talks from industry leaders and pitches from an international group of companies in the clean energy space.

This year's event will center around the theme "Energy Access and Resilience." Attendees will hear pitches from nine Pilotathon pitch companies, as well as the 14 companies that were named to Energy Tech Nexus' COPILOT accelerator earlier this year.

COPILOT partners with Browning the Green Space, a nonprofit that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the clean energy and climatetech sectors. The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory backs the COPILOT accelerator, where companies are tasked with developing pilot projects for their innovations.

The nine Pilotathon pitch companies include:

  • Ontario-based AlumaPower, which has developed a breakthrough technology that converts the aluminum-air battery into a "galvanic generator," a long-duration energy source that runs on aluminum as a fuel
  • Calgary-based BioOilSolv, a chemical manufacturing company that has developed cutting-edge biomass-derived solvents
  • Atlanta-based Cultiv8 Fuels, which creates high-quality renewable fuel products derived from hemp
  • Newfoundland-based eDNAtec Inc., a leader in environmental genomics that analyzes biodiversity and ecological health
  • Oregon-based Espiku Inc., which designs and develops water treatment and mineral extraction technologies that rely on low-pressure evaporative cycles
  • New York-based Fast Metals Inc., which has developed a chemical process to extract valuable metals from complex toxic mine tailings that is capable of producing iron, aluminum, scandium, titanium and other rare earth elements using industrial waste and waste CO2 as inputs
  • New Jersey-based Metal Light Inc., which is building a circular, solid metal fuel that will serve as a replacement for diesel fuel
  • Glasgow-based Novosound, which designs and manufactures innovative ultrasound sensors using a thin-film technique to address the limitations of traditional ultrasound with applications in industrial, medical and wearable markets
  • Calgary-based Serenity Power, which has developed a cutting-edge solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology

The COPILOT accelerator companies include:

  • Accelerate Wind
  • Aquora Biosystems Inc.
  • EarthEn
  • Electromaim
  • EnKoat
  • GeoFuels
  • Harber Coatings Inc.
  • Janta Power
  • NanoSieve
  • PolyQor Inc.
  • Popper Power
  • Siva Powers America
  • ThermoShade
  • V-Glass Inc.

Read more about them here.

The Pilotathon will also include a keynote from Taylor Chapman, investment manager at New Climate Ventures; Deanna Zhang, CEO at V1 Climate Solutions; and Jolene Gurevich, director of fellowship experience at Breakthrough Energy. The Texas Climate Tech Collective will present its latest study on the Houston climate tech and innovation ecosystem.

CEOs Moji Karimi of Cemvita, Laureen Meroueh of Hertha Metals and others will also participate in a panel on successful pilots. Investors from NetZero Ventures, Halliburton Labs, Chevron, Saudi Aramco, Prithvi VC and other organizations will also be on-site. Find registration information here.

Trending News