Movers and shakers: Top executive moves in Houston energy transition of 2024

year in review

Promotions, corporate ladder climbing, and other top mover and shaker stories on EnergyCapital this year. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, EnergyCapital is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston energy transition. From new board seats to internal promotions, this year marked a big one for some of Houston's energy leaders. Here were the top five most-read articles covering the mover and shaker news of 2024 — be sure to click through to read the full story.

Growing Houston biotech company expands leadership as it commercializes sustainable products

Nádia Skorupa Parachin joined Cemvita as vice president of industrial biotechnology. Photo courtesy of Cemvita

Houston-based biotech company Cemvita recently tapped two executives to help commercialize its sustainable fuel made from carbon waste.

Nádia Skorupa Parachin came aboard as vice president of industrial biotechnology, and Phil Garcia was promoted to vice president of commercialization.

Parachin most recently oversaw several projects at Boston-based biotech company Ginkjo Bioworks. She previously co-founded Brazilian biotech startup Integra Bioprocessos. Continue reading.

California geothermal co. grows C-suite, grows presence in Houston

XGS has leased 10,000 square feet of office space in Houston. Photo via Getty Images

A geothermal company with its headquarters in Palo Alto, California, has named new members of its C-suite and, at the same time, has expanded its operational footprint in Houston.

XGS Energy promoted Axel-Pierre Bois to CTO and Lucy Darago to chief commercial officer. Darago is based in Austin, and Bois, from France, lists his role as based in Houston on LinkedIn. Both have worked at XGS since February of last year.

“Axel and Lucy’s proven operational excellence and technical knowledge has helped propel XGS forward as we enter our next phase of growth,” Josh Prueher, CEO of XGS Energy, says in a news release. “I’m thrilled to have them both join XGS’ C-suite and have their support as we continue to grow our team, further advance our next-generation geothermal technology, and invest in our multi-gigawatt project pipeline.” Continue reading.

CenterPoint names 40-year industry veteran as exec for emergency response

Don Daigler will be tasked to lead CenterPoint Energy's yearly work in preparation for, response to and recovery from all emergencies, which includes both natural disasters and man-made events. Photo via CenterPoint Energy/LinkedIn

CenterPoint Energy announced the hiring of industry veteran Don Daigler as the new senior vice president of CenterPoint’s Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Daigler will be tasked to lead the company’s yearly work in preparation for, response to and recovery from all emergencies, which includes both natural disasters and man-made events. Daigler and his team will coordinate with all public safety partners.

“I’m pleased to join CenterPoint Energy and lead its Emergency Preparedness and Response team to transform how we prepare, mitigate and respond to the impacts of hurricanes, extreme weather and other emergencies,” Daigler says in a news release. ”The year-round work of our team will help position CenterPoint to deliver the service our customers expect and deserve before, during and after emergencies when the need is greatest.” Continue reading.

Houston private equity professional tapped to lead growth development at firm focused on decarbonization

Climate Investment announced Patrick Yip will lead the firm's growth investment strategy as managing director, head of growth. Photo via LinkedIn

A London-based energy transition investment firm has named a new Houston-based leader.

Climate Investment announced Patrick Yip will lead the firm's growth investment strategy as managing director, head of growth. In his new role, he will oversee the development of CI’s growth-stage portfolio, including deal sourcing, operational function of strategy, and working with the team that manages the firm's early-stage Catalyst program. He reports to the CEO, Pratima Rangarajan.

“We are excited to welcome Patrick to Climate Investment,” Rangarajan says in a news release. “The decarbonization investment opportunity continues to grow rapidly, and Patrick’s extensive experience will help us capitalize on that. He will also provide leadership and develop the market partnerships that will drive our growth investment strategy forward, playing a key role in supporting portfolio market adoption and accelerating the next stage of development for CI.” Continue reading.

Firm hires top Houston-based energy banker to grow energy transition team

Top Houston banker Stephen Trauber has joined publicly traded investment bank Moelis & Co. Image via Shutterstock

Houston energy dealmaker Stephen Trauber has been tapped as chairman and global head of the energy and clean technology business at publicly traded investment bank Moelis & Co.

In 2010, The Wall Street Journalcalled Trauber “one of the best-connected energy bankers in Houston.”

Trauber comes to New York City-based Moelis from Citi, where he recently retired as vice chairman and global co-head of natural resources and clean energy transition. Before that, he was vice chairman and global head of energy at UBS Investment Bank, where he worked with Ken Moelis, who’s now chairman and CEO of Moelis. Continue reading.

CenterPoint names 40-year industry veteran as exec for emergency response

onboarding

CenterPoint Energy announced the hiring of industry veteran Don Daigler as the new senior vice president of CenterPoint’s Emergency Preparedness and Response.

He brings over 40 years of experience across private and public sectors in emergency management, and national security and business resiliency. Daigler most recently was the CEO and founder of Resilience Advisory Services, which specialized in advancing resilience efforts across critical infrastructure sectors. He also served as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Response Planning Division and chief of FEMA’s Tactical Incident Support Branch. Daigler also had leadership roles for the Environmental Protection Agency , National Nuclear Security Administration, and Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company.

This leadership position “underscores CenterPoint’s commitment to improving its emergency response and coordination following Hurricane Beryl, and represents completing another of the more than 40 commitments CenterPoint made as part of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI) in August,” according to CenterPoint. CenterPoint completed 41 of the 42 overall commitments. The last commitment is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.

“After Hurricane Beryl, we heard loud and clear the calls to improve our preparedness for storms and other emergencies,” President and CEO of CenterPoint Energy Jason Wells adds. “Don will play a leading role in enhancing these operations ahead of the 2025 hurricane season and making CenterPoint a model for other utilities in emergency management and preparedness. His hiring underscores our commitment to better serve our customers in the energy capital of the world and building the most resilient coastal grid in the country.”

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Houston companies scoop up $31 million in funds from DOE, EPA methane emissions program

fresh funds

The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of seven projects from Houston companies to receive funding through the Methane Emissions Reduction Program.

The projects are among 43 others nationwide, including 12 from Texas, that reduce, monitor, measure, and quantify methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The DOE and EPA awarded $850 million in total through the program.

The Houston companies picked up $31.7 million in federal funding through the program in addition to more than $9.5 million in non-federal dollars.

“I’m excited about the opportunities these will create internally but even more so the creation of jobs and training opportunities for the communities in which we work,” Scott McCurdy, Encino Environmental Services CEO, said in a news release. His company received awards for two projects.

“These projects will allow us to further support and strengthen the U.S. Energy industry’s ability to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy globally,” he added.

The Houston-area awards included:

DaphneTech USA LLC

Total funding: $5.8 million (approximately $4.5 million in federal, $1.3 million in non-federal)

The award was granted for the company’s Daphne and Williams Methane Slip Abatement Plasma-Catalyst Scale-Up project. Daphne will study how its SlipPure technology, a novel exhaust gas cleaning system that abates methane and exhaust gas pollution from natural gas-fueled engines, can be economically viable across multiple engine types and operating conditions.

Baker Hughes Energy Transition LLC

Total funding: $7.47 million (approximately $6 million in federal, $1.5 million in non-federal)

The award was granted for the company’s Advancing Low Cost CH4 Emissions Reduction from Flares through Large Scale Deployment of Retrofittable and Adaptive Technology project. The project aims to develop a scalable, integrated methane emissions reduction system for flares based on optical gas imaging and estimation algorithms.

Encino Environmental Services

Total funding: $15.17 million (approximately $11 million in federal, $4.17 million in non-federal)

The award was granted for two projects. The Advanced Methane Reduction System: Integrating Infrared and Visual Imaging to Assess Net Heating Value at the Combustion Zone and Determine Combustion Efficiency to Enhance Flaring Performance project aims to develop and deploy an advanced continuous emissions monitoring system. It’s Advancing Methane Emissions Reduction through Innovative Technology project will develop and deploy a technology using sensors and composite materials to address emissions originating in storage tanks.

Envana Software Solutions

Total funding: $5.26 million (approximately $4.2 million in federal, $1 million in non-federal)

The award was granted for the company’s Leak Detection and Reduction Software to Identify Methane Emissions and Trigger Mitigation at Oil and Gas Production Facilities Based on SCADA Data project. It aims to improve its Recon software for monitoring methane emissions and develop partnerships with local universities and organizations.

Capwell Services Inc.

Total funding: $4.19 million (approximately $3.3 million in federal, $837,000 in non-federal)

The award was granted for its Methane Emissions Abatement Technology for Low-Flow and Intermittent Emission Sources project. It aims to to deploy and field-test a methane abatement unit and improve air quality and health outcomes for communities near production facilities and establish field technician internships for local residents.

Blue Sky Measurements

Total funding: $3.41 million (approximately $2.7 million in federal, $683,000 in non-federal)

The award was granted for its Field Validation of Novel Fixed Position Optical Sensor for Fugitive Methane Emission Detection Quantification and Location with Real-Time Notification for Rapid Mitigation project. It aims to field test an optical sensing technology at six well sites in the Permian Basin.

Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and Hyliion Inc. were other Texas-based organizations to earn awards. See the full list of projects here.

Texas university's 'WaterHub' will dramatically reduce water usage by 40%

Sustainable Move

A major advancement in sustainability is coming to one Texas university. A new UT WaterHub at the University of Texas at Austin will be the largest facility of its kind in the U.S. and will transform how the university manages its water resources.

It's designed to work with natural processes instead of against them for water savings of an estimated 40 percent. It's slated for completion in late 2027.

The university has had an active water recovery program since the 1980s. Still, water is becoming an increasing concern in Austin. According to Texas Living Waters, a coalition of conservation groups, Texas loses enough water annually to fill Lady Bird Lake roughly 89 times over.

As Austin continues to expand and face water shortages, the region's water supply faces increased pressure. The UT WaterHub plans to address this challenge by recycling water for campus energy operations, helping preserve water resources for both the university and local communities.

The 9,600-square-foot water treatment facility will use an innovative filtration approach. To reduce reliance on expensive machinery and chemicals, the system uses plants to naturally filter water and gravity to pull it in the direction it needs to go. Used water will be gathered from a new collection point near the Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium and transported to the WaterHub, located in the heart of the engineering district. The facility's design includes a greenhouse viewable to the public, serving as an interactive learning space.

Beyond water conservation, the facility is designed to protect the university against extreme weather events like winter storms. This new initiative will create a reliable backup water supply while decreasing university water usage, and will even reduce wastewater sent to the city by up to 70 percent.

H2O Innovation, UT’s collaborator in this project, specializes in water solutions, helping organizations manage their water efficiently.

"By combining cutting-edge technology with our innovative financing approach, we’re making it easier for organizations to adopt sustainable water practices that benefit both their bottom line and the environment, paving a step forward in water positivity,” said H2O Innovation president and CEO Frédéric Dugré in a press release.

The university expects significant cost savings with this project, since it won't have to spend as much on buying water from the city or paying fees to dispose of used water. Over the next several years, this could add up to millions of dollars.

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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, CultureMap Austin.

Report: Texas solar power, battery storage helped stabilize grid in summer 2024, but challenges remain

by the numbers

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shows that solar power and battery storage capacity helped stabilize Texas’ electric grid last summer.

Between June 1 and Aug. 31, solar power met nearly 25 percent of midday electricity demand within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power grid. Rising solar and battery output in ERCOT assisted Texans during a summer of triple-digit heat and record load demands, but the report fears that the state’s power load will be “pushed to its limits” soon.

The report examined how the grid performed during more demanding hours. At peak times, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the summer of 2024, solar output averaged nearly 17,000 megawatts compared with 12,000 megawatts during those hours in the previous year. Between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., discharge from battery facilities averaged 714 megawatts in 2024 after averaging 238 megawatts for those hours in 2023. Solar and battery output have continued to grow since then, according to the report.

“Batteries made a meaningful contribution to what those shoulder periods look like and how much scarcity we get into during these peak events,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said at a board of directors conference call.

Increases in capacity from solar and battery-storage power in 2024 also eclipsed those of 2023. In 2023 ECOT added 4,570 megawatts of solar, compared to adding nearly 9,700 megawatts in 2024. Growth in battery storage capacity also increased from about 1,500 megawatts added in 2023 to more than 4,000 megawatts added in 2024. Natural gas capacity also saw increases while wind capacity dropped by about 50 percent.

Texas’ installation of utility-scale solar surpassed California’s in the spring of last year, and jumped from 1,900 megawatts in 2019 to over 20,000 megawatts in 2024 with solar meeting about 50 percent of Texas' peak power demand during some days.

While the numbers are encouraging, the report states that there could be future challenges, as more generating capacity will be required due to data center construction and broader electrification trends. The development of generating more capacity will rely on multiple factors like price signals and market conditions that invite more baseload and dispatchable generating capacity, which includes longer-duration batteries, and investment in power purchase agreements and other power arrangements by large-scale consumers, according to the report.

Additionally, peak demand during winter freezes presents challenges not seen in the summer. For example, in colder months, peak electricity demand often occurs in the early morning before solar energy is available, and it predicts that current battery storage may be insufficient to meet the demand. The analysis indicated a 50% chance of rolling outages during a cold snap similar to December 2022 and an 80% chance if conditions mirror the February 2021 deep freeze at the grid’s current state.

The report also claimed that ERCOT’s energy-only market design and new incentive structures, such as the Texas Energy Fund, do not appear to be enough to meet the predicted future magnitude and speed of load growth.

Read the full report here.

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