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Hardtech innovator fellowship opens applications for 2025 Houston cohort

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Activate's application is live from now through October 23, and all founders of early-stage, research-backed hardtech companies in Houston are encouraged to apply. Photo via Getty Images

Applications are officially open for a hardtech-focused incubation and fellowship program's second Houston cohort.

Activate's application is live from now through October 23, and all founders of early-stage, research-backed hardtech companies in Houston are encouraged to apply. The Berkley, California-based program launched in Houston last year and recently named its inaugural Houston cohort.

“The Activate Fellowship provides an opportunity for approximately 50 scientists and engineers annually to transform into entrepreneurial leaders, derisk their technologies, define first markets, build teams, and secure follow-on funding,” says Activate’s executive managing director, Aimee Rose, in a news release. “With an average 30 percent annual growth in applications since 2015, we know there is high demand for what we do, and we’re excited to see the talent and impactful ideas that come through the pipeline this year.

The program, led locally by Houston Managing Director Jeremy Pitts, has 249 current Activate fellows and alumni that have collectively raised over $2.4 billion in public and private funding since the organization was founded in 2015.

“The success of Activate Fellows is ample evidence that scientists and engineers have the talent and drive to face global challenges head-on,” adds Activate chief fellowship officer, Brenna Teigler. “Our diverse fellows are transforming technical breakthroughs into businesses across the United States in 26 states across a range of sectors spanning carbon management, semiconductors, manufacturing, energy, chemicals, ocean tech, and more.”

The application is available online, and fellows will be selected in April of next year. The 2025 program will begin in June.

Activate is looking for local and regional early-stage founders — who have raised less than $2 million in funding — who are working on high-impact technology. Each cohort consists of 10 fellows that join the program for two years. The fellows receive a living stipend, connections from Activate's robust network of mentors, and access to a curriculum specific to the program.

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The inaugural Activate Houston cohort has 11 fellows across energy, materials, life sciences, space, and other sectors. Photo via activate.org

6 energy transition innovators named to inaugural Houston hardtech fellowship cohort

onboarding

A national hardtech-focused organization has named its 2024 batch of innovators, which includes the inaugural Houston-based cohort.

Activate named 62 fellows and 50 companies for is latest class, which spans Berkley, California — where the organization is based, Boston, New York, and Houston. Additionally, Activate Anywhere, the program's virtual and remote cohort, was named. According to Activate, it received over 1,000 applicants.

“People, not ideas alone, move the world forward. It is through the drive and determination of brilliant scientists and engineers that we are witnessing true progress,” says Activate CEO Cyrus Wadia in a news release. “Our current Activate Fellows and alumni are already pioneering innovative solutions that make a measurable difference. We’re thrilled to support the next 62 visionaries who will lead the charge in addressing our most urgent issues through groundbreaking science and technology.”

It's the first year Activate has hosted a Houston-based cohort. The organization initially announced its expansion early last year. The inaugural cohort has 11 fellows across energy, materials, life sciences, space, and other sectors.

The named Houston fellows who are working on energy transition solutions include:

  • Krish Mehta, founder and CEO of Phoenix Materials, a company that decarbonizes concrete using industrial waste.
  • Gabriel Cossio, founder and CEO of Nanoscale Labs, which is developing a high-throughput and low-cost nanomanufacturing system.
  • Matthew McDermott, founder and CEO of Refound Materials, a materials technology company developing more efficient synthesis recipes for accelerated materials discovery.
  • Alec Ajnsztajn, founder and CEO of Coflux Purification, a company that's creating a product that allows industries and water providers to cheaply remove forever chemicals to provide safe drinking water at a fraction of current energy use.
  • Ryan DuChanois and Yang Xia , co-founders of Solidec, a Houston-based startup redefining chemical manufacturing.

The rest of the cohort includes:

  • Meagan Pitcher, co-founder and CEO of Bairitone Health, which brings advanced imaging diagnostics into the home environment.
  • Wei Meng, co-founder and CEO of LumiStrain, a startup offering novel technology for mechanical strain mapping.
  • Sonia Dagan of Atolla Tech, which is developing a lidar and machine-learning algorithm for identifying and quantifying airborne insects.
  • Rodrigo Alvarez-Icaza, founder and CEO of Elysium Robotics, a company that's replacing electric motors with muscle-like actuators to enable massive deployment of highly capable and low-cost robotic systems.
  • Blake Herren, CEO and Co-founder of Raven Space Systems, which is modernizing composite manufacturing with 3D printing and Industry 4.0 solutions to build the factories of the future.
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TotalEnergies to supply solar power to new Google data centers in Texas

power deal

French energy company TotalEnergies, whose U.S. headquarters are in Houston, has signed power purchase agreements to supply 1 gigawatt of solar power for Google data centers in Texas over a 15-year span.

The power will be generated by TotalEnergies’ two solar farms that are being developed in Texas. Construction on the company’s Wichita site (805 megawatt-peak, or MWp) and Mustang Creek site (195 MWp) is scheduled to start in the second quarter of this year.

Marc-Antoine Pignon, U.S. vice president for renewables at TotalEnergies, said in a press release that the 1-gigawatt deal “highlights TotalEnergies’ strategy to deliver tailored renewable energy solutions that support the decarbonization goals of digital players, particularly data centers.”

The deal comes after California-based Clearway, in which TotalEnergies holds a 50 percent stake, secured an agreement to supply 1.2 gigawatts of solar power to Google data centers in Texas and other states.

“Supporting a strong, stable, affordable grid is a top priority as we expand our infrastructure,” said Will Conkling, director of clean energy and power at Google. “Our agreement with TotalEnergies adds necessary new generation to the local system, boosting the amount of affordable and reliable power supply available to serve the entire region.”

TotalEnergies maintains a 10-gigawatt-capacity portfolio of onshore solar, wind and battery storage assets in the U.S., including 5 gigawatts in the territory served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).

Other clean energy customers of TotalEnergies include Airbus, Air Liquide, Amazon, LyondellBasell, Merck and Microsoft.

UH lands $1.5M for endowed professorship and energy workforce initiative

funding the future

The University of Houston announced two major funding awards last month focused on energy transition initiatives and leadership.

Longtime UH supporters Peggy and Chris Seaver made a $1 million gift to the university to establish the Peggy and Chris Seaver Endowed Aspire Professorship, a faculty position “designed to strengthen UH Energy and expand the university’s leadership in addressing the most pressing global energy challenges,” according to a news release.

The new role is the third professorship appointed to UH Energy. The professorship can qualify for a dollar-for-dollar match through the Aspire Fund Challenge, a $50 million matching initiative launched by an anonymous donor.

“This gift will be key to cementing UH’s role as The Energy University,” Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president for energy and innovation at UH, said in the release. “By recruiting a highly respected faculty member with international experience, we are further elevating UH Energy’s global profile while deepening our impact here in the energy capital of the world.”

Also in January, the university shared that it would be joining the Urban Enrichment Institute (UEI) and the City of Houston to help train the next generation of energy workers, thanks to a $560,000 grant.

The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine awarded the funding to the UEI, a nonprofit that supports at-risk youth. It will allow the UEI to work with UH’s Energy Transition Institute and the Houston Health Department to launch “Spark Energy Futures: Equipping Youth and Communities for the Energy Transition.”

The new initiative is designed for Houstonians ages 16-25 and will provide hands-on experience, four months of STEM-based training, and industry-aligned certifications without a four-year degree. Participants can also earn credentials and job placement support.

“Our energy systems are going through unprecedented changes to address the growing energy demands in the United States, Gulf Coast and Texas,” Debalina Sengupta, assistant vice president and Chief Operating Officer of ETI at UH, said in a news release.“To meet growing demands, the energy supply, transmission, distribution and markets associated with an ever-increasing energy mix needs a workforce skilled in multidimensional aspects of energy, as well as the flexibility to switch as needed to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to our population.”

Keith Cornelius, executive director of UEI, added that he expects about 50 students to participate in the program’s inaugural year and that the program is looking to attract those interested in entering the energy workforce without a college degree.

“We’re looking to have tremendous success with the Energy Transition Institute,” Cornelius said. “This program is a testament to what can be done between a community-based organization, a major university and the city.”

The award was part of a $2.7 million grant that will fund four projects in the Gulf region, including two others in Texas. The Gulf Research Program Awards also granted $748,175 to launch the “Building the South Texas Energy Workforce” initiative in in Kingsville, Texas and $728,000 for “Texas Green Careers Academy: Activating a New Generation of Energy Professionals” in Austin.

Solar power and storage help save Texans millions on electric bills, CEO tells Senate

price stability

Solar power and battery storage are saving Texans hundreds of millions of dollars on their electric bills, the president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association recently told a congressional committee.

Abigail Ross Hopper, the association’s president and CEO, said in testimony given to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that states like Texas that are adding significant capacity for solar power and battery storage are enjoying lower, more stable prices for electricity.

“Unsubsidized solar is now the cheapest source of electricity in history in much of the country,” Hopper said. “With no fuel costs, solar provides a hedge against natural gas price volatility that continues to cause electricity price spikes.”

“The only way to put downward pressure on prices is by bringing more power online, not less,” she added.

To illustrate the value of solar power and battery storage, Hopper compared two hot summer days in Texas—one in July 2022 and the other in July 2025.

Hopper explained that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) had begun installing solar on its grid in 2022 but had very little battery storage. ERCOT manages 90 percent of the state’s electrical load.

When ERCOT grid conditions buckled under high demand on the highlighted day in 2022, the price of electricity spiked to nearly $1,500 per megawatt-hour, Hopper said.

“Three years later, the amount of solar had increased substantially and was complemented by energy storage,” she said.

On the specified day in 2025, under even greater demand than three years earlier, sizable amounts of solar power, battery storage and wind power kept ERCOT’s midday price of electricity low and stable—around $50 per megawatt-hour. That dollar amount represented a nearly 100 percent decrease compared with the highlighted day in 2022.

Solar and wind supplied nearly 40 percent of Texas’ power during the first nine months of 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Despite the state’s expansion of solar power and battery storage capacity, residential electricity prices in ERCOT’s territory rose 30 percent from 2020 to 2025 and are expected to climb another 29 percent from 2025 to 2030, according to a forecast from the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute.

The increase in electric bills is tied to factors such as:

  • Higher natural gas prices
  • Greater demand from AI data centers and cryptomining facilities
  • Extreme weather
  • Population growth
  • Development of new transmission and distribution lines

The strain on ERCOT’s grid is only getting worse. An EIA forecast predicts demand for ERCOT electricity will jump 9.6 percent in 2026, and ERCOT expects a 50 percent jump in demand by 2029.

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