ADVERTISEABOUT USSUBMIT A STORYSUBSCRIBETERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY
Visit our family of Brands

Daikin completes solar plant to power massive Houston-area campus

switched on

Daikin Industries' new solar power plant at its Waller-area campus will power its central chiller plant and is designed to connect to the campus' electric grid. Photo courtesy Daikin.

Japanese HVAC company Daikin Industries has completed a nearly one-megawatt solar power plant at its Daikin Comfort Technologies North America campus southeast of Waller.

Daikin says the new plant at its 4.2 million-square-foot Daikin Texas Technology Park will eliminate an estimated 845 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. The park houses the largest HVAC factory in North America.

“Daikin’s unwavering commitment to innovation drives us to continually perfect the air we share. With the launch of this solar project, we’re one step closer to being a net-zero CO2 emission factory by 2030,” Nathan Walker, senior vice president of environmental business development of locally based Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, said in a release. “This installation is a significant step in reducing our carbon footprint and underscores our commitment to energy efficiency, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.”

Solar power from the new facility will power the Daikin campus’ central chiller plant, which circulates about 125,000 gallons of chilled water annually and 75,000 gallons of hot water in the winter. Also, the solar setup is designed to connect to the electric grid that serves the campus. About 10,000 people work at the campus.

Daikin, a Fortune 1000 company, may not have been a familiar name to some Houstonians until January, when it took over the naming rights for the Houston Astros’ stadium. The naming rights agreement for Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park, expires during the Astros’ 2039 season. The stadium had been named Minute Maid Park since 2002.

“The Astros are the pride of Houston, an organization that has built resiliency in hard times, and have succeeded to be a winning team. The coming together of both our organizations is a symbol of our love for our hometown and the communities of the Greater Houston area,” Takayuki “Taka” Inoue, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, said in November.

From Your Site Articles
The Astros' stadium will have a new name in 2025. Courtesy of the Houston Astros

Global industrial company Daikin makes deal with Houston Astros on stadium rename

big deal

The Houston Astros' home will get a new name on Jan. 1, becoming Daikin Park under an agreement through the 2039 season the team announced Monday.

The stadium opened as Enron Field in 2000 as part of a 30-year, $100 million agreement but the name was removed in March 2002 following Enron Corp.'s bankruptcy filing and the ballpark briefly became Astros Field.

It was renamed Minute Maid Park in June 2002 as part of a deal with The Minute Maid Co., a Houston-based subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co. Then-Astros owner Drayton McLane said at the time the agreement was for 28 years and for more than $100 million.

The new deal is with Daikin Comfort Technologies North America Inc., a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Ltd., which is based in Japan and is a leading air conditioning company.

Minute Maid will remain an Astros partner through 2029, the team said.

In August, Daikin, which has its 4.2 million-square-foot Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, Texas, partnered with the city of Houston to provide advanced air conditioning and heating solutions to help homeowners with energy efficiency and general comfort. The company pledged install up to 30 horizontal discharge inverter FIT heat pump units over the next three years.

Daikin committed to installing energy efficient technology in low-to-moderate-income households in Houston. Photo courtesy of Daikin

Japanese company collaborates with city of Houston on energy efficiency partnership

daikin's in

A Japanese air conditioner manufacturer has teamed up with the city of Houston on an energy efficiency initiative.

Daikin Comfort Technologies, which has its 4.2 million-square-foot Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, Texas, has partnered with the city of Houston to provide advanced air conditioning and heating solutions to help homeowners with energy efficiency and general comfort.

The company will install up to 30 horizontal discharge inverter FIT heat pump units over the next three years. The units will be provided to low-to-moderate-income households, which will include seniors over the age of 62, and homes renovated through the Housing and Community Development Department’s Home Repair Program. The new units will offer internet connectivity for remote monitoring and control. The installations align with Houston's Home Repair Program reconstruction plans.

“We are proud to partner with the City of Houston to launch this program that can directly advance their vision for decarbonization and increasing grid resiliency through higher efficiency,” CEO Satoru Akama says in a news release. “Through this program, Homeowners will have a premium system that will not only provide comfort but save on their monthly bills and do so in a way that lowers site emissions of CO2 compared to traditional, non-inverter systems. At Daikin, we are focused on changing the culture of air conditioning in North America and are looking forward to having a direct impact in our hometown.”

The initiative coincides with the company’s 100th year anniversary and National Air Condition Appreciation Days, which was coined by Mayor John Whitmire on August 13. Air Conditioning Appreciation Days ran from July 3 until August 15.

“The city thanks Daikin for this collaboration. Houstonians, especially seniors, (that) must have the resources to stay comfortable during extreme temperatures,” Whitmire adds. “This partnership reflects our dedication to caring for the well-being of our community.”

Awareness is part of the appreciation days, as Daikin recommends homeowners and facilities to clean filters, schedule maintenance checkups and look at ways to lower energy use.

“Through these new energy-efficient solutions, Daikin is helping the city promote a more sustainable environment for our community, and we are thankful for their example of how public-private partnerships can make a positive difference in society,” Houston Council Member Sallie Alcorn says in a news release.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Texas could topple Virginia as biggest data-center market by 2030, JLL report says

data analysis

Everything’s bigger in Texas, they say—and that phrase now applies to the state’s growing data-center presence.

A new report from commercial real estate services provider JLL says Texas could overtake Northern Virginia as the world’s largest data-center market by 2030. Northern Virginia is a longtime holder of that title.

What’s driving Texas’ increasingly larger role in the data-center market? The key factor is artificial intelligence.

Companies like Google and Microsoft need more energy-hungry data centers to power AI innovations. In a 2023 article, Forbes explained that AI models consume a lot of energy because of the massive amount of data used to train them, as well as the complexity of those models and the rising volume of tasks assigned to AI.

“The data-center sector has officially entered hyperdrive,” Andy Cvengros, executive managing director at JLL and co-leader of its U.S. data-center business, said in the report. “Record-low vacancy sustained over two consecutive years provides compelling evidence against bubble concerns, especially when nearly all our massive construction pipeline is already pre-committed by investment-grade tenants.”

Dallas-Fort Worth has long dominated the Texas data-center market. But in recent years, West Texas has emerged as a popular territory for building data-center campuses, thanks in large part to an abundance of land and energy. Nearly two-thirds of data-center construction underway now is happening in “frontier markets” like West Texas, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin, the JLL report says.

Northern Virginia, the current data-center champ in the U.S., boasted a data-center market with 6,315 megawatts of capacity at the end of 2025, the report says. That compares with 2,423 megawatts in Dallas-Fort Worth, 1,700 megawatts in the Austin-San Antonio corridor, 200 megawatts in West Texas, and 164 megawatts in Houston.

Fervo taps into its hottest-ever geothermal reservoir

heat record

Things are heating up at Houston-based geothermal power company Fervo Energy.

Fervo recently drilled its hottest well so far at a new geothermal site in western Utah. Fewer than 11 days of drilling more than 11,000 feet deep at Project Blanford showed temperatures above 555 degrees Fahrenheit, which exceeds requirements for commercial viability. Fervo used proprietary AI-driven analytics for the test.

Hotter geothermal reservoirs produce more energy and improve what’s known as energy conversion efficiency, which is the ratio of useful energy output to total energy input.

“Fervo’s exploration strategy has always been underpinned by the seamless integration of cutting-edge data acquisition and advanced analytics,” Jack Norbeck, Fervo’s co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a news release. “This latest ultra-high temperature discovery highlights our team’s ability to detect and develop EGS sweet spots using AI-enhanced geophysical techniques.”

Fervo says an independent review confirms the site’s multigigawatt potential.

The company has increasingly tapped into hotter and hotter geothermal reservoirs, going from 365 degrees at Project Red to 400 degrees at Cape Station and now more than 555 degrees at Blanford.

The new site expands Fervo’s geologic footprint. The Blanford reservoir consists of sedimentary formations such as sandstones, claystones and carbonates, which can be drilled more easily and cost-effectively than more commonly targeted granite formations.

Fervo ranks among the top-funded startups in the Houston area. Since its founding in 2017, the company has raised about $1.5 billion. In January, Fervo filed for an IPO that would value the company at $2 billion to $3 billion, according to Axios Pro.

Acquisitions and agreements fuel Houston energy news to know right now

Trending Topics

Editor's note: The top Houston energy news for the first half of February includes acquisitions, agreements, and must-attend events. Below are the five most-read EnergyCapitalHTX stories from Feb. 1-15, 2026:

Here are 5 must-attend Houston energy events for February 2026

Acquisitions and agreements fuel the top Houston energy news to knowCatch up on our top news for the first half of February. Courtesy photo

The second half of February is buzzing with must-attend events for those in the Houston energy sector. We've rounded up a host of events to put on your calendar for the month, with topics ranging from AI in energy to emissions management for a sustainable future. Continue reading.

ERCOT to capture big share of U.S. solar power growth through 2027

A new report predicts solar power supplied to the ERCOT grid will jump by 89 percent by the end of 2027. Photo by Red Zeppelin/Pexels

Much of the country’s growth in utility-scale solar power generation will happen in the grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), according to a new forecast. Continue reading.

Syzygy inks long-term offtake agreement for first commercial SAF plant

Syzygy Plasmonics has secured an offtake agreement for 100% of the production from its first commercial SAF plant. Photo courtesy of Syzygy.

Houston-based Syzygy Plasmonics has secured a six-year official offtake agreement for the entire production volume of its first commercial-scale biogas-to-sustainable aviation fuel project in Uruguay, known as NovaSAF-1. Continue reading.

Spring-based private equity firm acquires West Texas wind farm

Spring-based Arroyo Investors has purchased Whirlwind Energy Center in Amarillo, Texas. Photo by Sam LaRussa on Unsplash.

Spring-based private equity firm Arroyo Investors has teamed up with ONCEnergy, a Portland, Oregon-based developer of clean energy projects, to buy a 60-megawatt wind farm southeast of Amarillo. Continue reading.

$21.5 billion merger will create Houston-based energy powerhouse

Devon Energy will buy Houston-based Coterra Energy. Photo via Coterra Energy

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based Devon Energy has agreed to buy Houston-based Coterra Energy in a $21.5 billion all-stock deal, forming an energy powerhouse that will be headquartered in Houston. The combined company, boasting an enterprise value of $58 billion, will adopt the Devon brand name. Continue reading.

View All Listings