Under its deal with Occidental, pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners will create a carbon dioxide pipeline system for 1PointFive’s Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub. Photo via 1pointfive.com

Occidental Petroleum’s carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration (CCUS) subsidiary has tapped another Houston-based company to develop a carbon dioxide pipeline and transportation network for one of its CCUS hubs.

Under its deal with Occidental, pipeline company Enterprise Products Partners will create a carbon dioxide pipeline system for 1PointFive’s Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub, which will span more than 55,000 acres in Chambers, Liberty, and Jefferson counties. The hub will be able to hold about 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. The new pipeline network will be co-located with existing pipelines.

Enterprise Products Partners also will supply fee-based services for transporting CO2 emissions from industrial facilities near the Houston Ship Channel to the Bluebonnet hub.

“This agreement pairs our expertise managing large volumes of CO2 with Enterprise’s decades of midstream experience to bring confidence to industrial customers seeking a decarbonization solution,” Jeff Alvarez, president of 1PointFive’s sequestration business, says in a news release.

The Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub recently received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help cover development costs.

“This hub is located between two of the largest industrial corridors in Texas so captured CO2 can be efficiently transported and safely sequestered,” Alvarez said in 2023. “Rather than starting from scratch with individual capture and sequestration projects, companies can plug into this hub for access to shared carbon infrastructure.”

Occidental subsidiary 1PointFive received federal funding — and more trending Houston energy transition news. Photo via 1pointfive.com

DOE doles out $36M to Oxy for carbon capture hubs

show me the money

Two carbon dioxide sequestration hubs being built by a subsidiary of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum have received a total of $36 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The two 1PointFive projects that gained federal funding are the Bluebonnet Sequestration Hub, located in the Houston area’s Chambers County, and the Magnolia Sequestration Hub, located in Allen Parish, Louisiana.

The more than 55,000-acre Bluebonnet site will potentially store about 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. The 26,000-acre Magnolia hub will offer about 300 million metric tons of CO2 storage capacity.

“We are using our over 50 years of carbon management expertise and experience developing projects at scale to deliver a proven solution that helps advance industrial decarbonization,” Jeff Alvarez, president of 1PointFive Sequestration, says in a news release.

The 1PointFive hubs are aimed at helping hard-to-decarbonize industries achieve climate goals.

The carbon sequestration process captures carbon dioxide in the air and then stores it. The 1PointFive hubs will inject captured CO2 into underground geological formations.

Fortune Business Insights predicts the value of the global market for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) will climb from $3.54 billion in 2024 to $14.51 billion by 2032.

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Houston renewables developer signs agreement with Meta for new solar project

power deal

Houston-based EDP Renewables North America has signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for its forthcoming Cypress Knee Solar project.

The 250‑megawatt solar project will be built in Arkansas and is expected to come online by 2028, according to a news release from EDPR. The company says the project will generate approximately $25 million in new revenue for Chicot County once operational.

“Cypress Knee Solar and our broader portfolio of projects with Meta are helping power a reliable, modern U.S. electric grid—the backbone of American innovation and long-term economic growth,” Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDPR NA, said in the release. “These investments strengthen local communities, create durable economic value, and ensure that progress is built on a resilient, sustainable foundation.

This is Meta's third power purchase agreement with EDPR. The tech giant is now contracted to a renewable capacity of 545 megawatts with EDPR. Meta and EDPR also collaborated on the 200-megawatt Brittlebush Solar Park to support Meta's data center in Mesa, Arizona.

“Through our partnership with EDPR, Cypress Knee Solar will bring new generation to the Arkansas grid, creating local jobs and delivering economic benefits to the community. We’re proud to expand our collaboration with EDPR,” Amanda Yang, head of clean and renewable energy at Meta, added in the release.

EDPR operates 61 wind farms, 29 solar parks and four energy storage sites across North America. Its other customers include other tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft.

Buoyed by $1.3B sales backlog, microgrid company ERock files for IPO

eyeing ipo

Another energy company in Houston is going public amid a flurry of energy IPOs.

Houston-based ERock Inc., which specializes in utility-grade onsite microgrid systems for data centers and other customers, has filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The ERock filing follows the recent $1.9 billion IPO of Houston-based Fervo Energy, a provider of geothermal power that’s now valued at $7.7 billion.

Another Houston energy company, EagleRock Land, just went public in a $320 million IPO that values the company at $3 billion. EagleRock owns or controls about 236,000 acres in the Permian Basin, earning money from royalties, fees, easements, water services and other revenue streams tied to drilling on its land.

According to Barron’s, more than a dozen energy and energy-related companies in the U.S. have gone public since the beginning of 2025, with the bulk of the IPOs happening this year.

ERock’s SEC filing doesn’t identify the per-share pricing range for the IPO or the number of Class A shares to be offered. ERock is a portfolio company of Energy Impact Partners, a New York City-based venture capital and private equity firm that invests in energy companies.

The company previously did business as Enchanted Rock. ERock Inc., formed in January, will function as a holding company that controls predecessor company ER Holdings Ltd.

In 2025, ERock generated revenue of $183.1 million, up 42.5 percent from the previous year, according to the IPO filing. It recorded a net loss of $59 million last year.

As of March 31, ERock boasted a sales backlog of nearly $1.3 billion, up 779 percent on a year-over-year basis. The company attributes most of that increase to greater demand from data centers.

The company primarily serves the power needs of data centers, utilities, industrial facilities, and commercial buildings. Its biggest markets are Texas and California.

“Several U.S. markets, such as Texas and California, face especially acute reliability risks,” ERock says in the SEC filing. “Texas already shows rapid load-growth pressures tied to data centers and industrial expansion, while California faces grid congestion, long interconnection queues, and above-average vulnerability to extreme heat- and weather-driven outages.”

Since its founding in 2018, ERock has installed microgrid systems at more than 400 sites with a capacity of about 1,000 megawatts. Customers include ComEd, Foxconn, H-E-B, Microsoft and Walmart.

By the end of this year, the company plans to expand its production of microgrid systems to a capacity of about 1.2 gigawatts with the opening of its Hyperion facility in Houston.

John Carrington leads ERock as CEO. He joined ER Holdings last year as chairman and CEO. Carrington previously was CEO of Houston-based Stem, a public company that offers AI-enabled clean energy software and services. Earlier, he spent 16 years at General Electric.

Houston investment firm closes $105M energy venture fund

seeing green

Houston-based investment firm Veriten has announced the initial close of its second flagship energy venture fund with more than $105 million in capital commitments.

Fund II will build on Veriten’s initial fund and aim to support “scalable technology solutions for energy, power and industrial applications,” according to a company news release.

"Our differentiated network, research-driven process, and first principles approach to investing are having an impact across multiple verticals including traditional energy, electrification, and industrial technology. Fund II builds on that platform,” John Sommers, partner, investments at Veriten, added in the release. “In this environment, the differentiator isn't capital – it's all about connectivity, deep sector expertise, and an economically-driven approach. As new technologies and approaches develop at breakneck speed, the need for more reliable, affordable energy and power continues to grow dramatically. The current backdrop accentuates the need for Veriten's solution."

Veriten is supported by over 50 strategic partnerships in the energy, power, industrial and technology sectors, including major players like Halliburton and Phillips 66.

"Veriten continues to build a differentiated platform at the intersection of energy, technology and industry expertise," Jeff Miller, chairman and CEO of Halliburton, said in the release. "We were early believers in the team and their ability to identify practical solutions to real challenges across the energy value chain. As all industries increasingly adopt digital tools, automation and AI-enabled technologies to improve performance and execution, we are proud to partner with Veriten again to help accelerate high-impact solutions across the broader energy landscape."

Veriten closed its debut fund, NexTen LP, of $85 million in committed capital in October 2023. It was launched in January 2022 by Maynard Holt, co-founder and former CEO of the energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

It has invested in Houston-based AI-powered electricity analytics provider Amperon and led a $12 million Seed 2 funding round for Houston-based Helix Technologies to scale manufacturing of its energy-efficient commercial HVAC add-on earlier this year. In the past year it has contributed to funding rounds for San Francisco-based Armada and Calgary-based Veerum.

Veriten also named Nick Morriss as its new managing director earlier this month. Morriss most recently served as vice president of business development at next-generation nuclear technology company Natura Resources and spent nearly 20 years at NOV Inc.