Houston entrepreneur on how mobile payments will impact the energy transition

Q&A

Don Frieden of P97 shares his thoughts on the future of payment technology amid the energy transition. Photo courtesy of P97

Whether you fuel up your car at the pump or a plug, you need to pay for it. One venture-backed Houston company is dedicated to optimizing that transaction process.

P97 was founded in 2012 to upgrade gas station payments — something that had remained stagnant since around 1997 with the card reader. Don Frieden, CEO and president at the company, thought more can be improved in this process and other daily transactions.

He shared his vision for the company — past, present, and future — on the Houston Innovators Podcast, as well as how he sees the relationship between fintech and the energy transition.

Tell me about the founding mission you had for P97 and the current technologies you're working on.

Don Frieden: P97 is my second software startup — both Houston-based companies. The first one was back in the late '90s, and we were leveraging technology to enable workforce automation and decisions for technology. I mentioned that just because it's relevant because fast forward, and that business was required by public traded company in 2008 and some of our learnings were about payments of gas technology, which led us to start this business.

With P97, our mission from the beginning was simplifying and energizing daily journeys. We think about daily journeys from the time we leave home in the morning and when we get back at the end of the day — whether it's tolling, parking, buying fuel, fast food restaurants, it's all a part of your daily journeys, and our goal is to make things a little bit simpler each day.

There hadn't been any payment innovation from the late '90s, and that was contactless payment at the gas pump, but nothing more until we started the business in 2012. Part of the reason the company name is P97 is because we wanted to innovate around payments since we really hadn't seen anything innovative since 1997.

One of the things we’re most excited about is voice enable payments through our partnership with Amazon's Alexa. The landscape of payments at gas stations underwent this next revolution, and we're using cutting-edge speech recognition and artificial intelligence to allow drivers to pay for fuel just using their voice. It makes the process faster and more efficient, and is completely hands-free. From this time I say, “Alexa, buy gas,” six seconds later, the gas would be turned on and any loyalty rewards I have would be applied, all from the comfort of my car.

How is P97 set up to address the energy transition and the new fuel sources coming out of it?

DF: The good news is about fuel is it's a process of filling up a vehicle — whether it's with a EV charge or whether you're putting hydrogen in the tank. We run one of the largest hydrogen networks in California now. Or, it’s just traditional fuel selling in gallons. The biggest challenge really is integrating all of those different use cases into mobile apps so families can have a wide variety of ways to to fuel their vehicles of wide variety of ways to pay for that fuel — all in one really frictionless experience.

How do you see Houston as a hub for your company as well as an energy transition leader?

DF: Houston is pretty much the energy capital of the world, so from from a partnership and client perspective, life is really easy in Houston right because we have so many major energy companies represented here, but we're not exactly a tech hub. Hiring in Houston has been a bit of a challenge. We have to sometimes hire people out of California and relocate them to Houston. Because of the high quality of life in Houston, we have been able to relocate people here and hire the very best talent.

The reality is that all these energy companies have now recognized the energy transition. Early on, electric vehicles were not overly popular, but now I think we all embrace the importance of climate change and zero hydrocarbon footprint. I think the last 24 months have seen really a major change in embracing everything from wind to solar to supporting the electrification of transportation. You've seen major investments by energy companies acquiring technology companies that can help them accelerate as they make the transition. It was maybe a little bit slow going early on, but the last couple of years, we've just watched it really accelerate. I think also with the US Government getting behind the Infrastructure Bill and putting programs out there to help companies transition has really also helped accelerate this process.

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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.

Spring-based private equity firm acquires West Texas wind farm

power deal

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.

Skyline Renewables, which acquired the site, known as the Whirlwind Energy Center, in 2018, was the seller. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

Whirlwind Energy Center, located in Floyd County, West Texas, comprises 26 utility-scale wind turbines. The wind farm, built in 2007, supplies power to Austin Energy.

“The acquisition reflects our focus on value-driven investments with strong counterparties, a solid operating track record, and clear relevance to markets with growing capacity needs,” Brandon Wax, a partner at Arroyo, said in a press release. “Partnering with ONCEnergy allows us to leverage deep operational expertise while expanding our investment footprint in the market.”

Arroyo focuses on energy infrastructure investments in the Americas. Its portfolio includes Spring-based Seaside LNG, which produces liquefied natural gas and LNG transportation services.

Last year, Arroyo closed an investment fund with more than $1 billion in total equity commitments.

Since its launch in 2003, Arroyo has “remained committed to investing in high-quality assets, creating value and positioning assets for exit within our expected hold period,” founding partner Chuck Jordan said in 2022.

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