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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Japanese company plans $357M solar manufacturing plant in Houston area

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Japanese solar manufacturing company TOYO Co. Ltd. plans to invest $357 million to bring a 1.5-gigwatt solar cell manufacturing facility to the Houston area.

TOYO’s latest state-of-the-art facility will be co-located at its existing solar module site in Humble, according to a news release from the company. It will produce heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, which are known to be more durable and efficient with a higher heat threshold.

TOYO reports that the new facility will create 400 full-time manufacturing jobs. The project is expected to be completed in 20 months, which includes an initial pilot production.

"Expanding into domestic cell manufacturing is the natural next step in our commitment to creating an integrated onshore solar supply chain from polysilicon to panels," Takahiko Onozuka, chairman and CEO of TOYO, said in the news release. "Co-locating 1.5 GW of HJT cell capacity at our Houston module site significantly optimizes our capital allocation and infrastructure spend.”

TOYO entered the Houston market in 2024 through its acquisition of a majority stake in Solar Plus Technology Texas LLC.

Earlier this year, it began producing solar modules at its 567,140-square-foot plant in Lovett Industrial’s Nexus North Logistics Park. At the time, the company said it planned to expand manufacturing capacity to 6.5 gigawatts.

"The new cell plant reflects TOYO's long-term strategy to build a fully FEOC-compliant domestic manufacturing platform focused on serving the needs of the U.S. utility-scale solar market," Rhone Resch, TOYO's chief strategy officer, added in the release. "By producing premium solar products in the United States, we will be well positioned to meet the market's evolving domestic content requirements while strengthening supply chain security and reliability. Looking ahead, we believe HJT is the optimal technology platform for integrating next-generation perovskite solar cells, which we expect will drive the next major advancement in solar conversion efficiency and support TOYO's long-term technology roadmap.”

New survey reveals concerns over AI data center growth in Houston

data findings

A new report out of the University of Houston shows that area residents remain wary of the long-term effects of operating data centers.

The recent survey from the University of Houston’s latest SPACE City Panel, conducted by the Center for Public Policy at the Hobby School of Public Affairs, shows that while 85 percent of Houston-area residents use AI, nearly 63 percent oppose the construction of AI data centers within 1 mile of their homes.

Respondents’ concerns centered around data centers’ high energy demand and the area’s power grid reliability. According to the survey, 32 percent of residents who oppose local data center projects would be more likely to support the centers if they relied on renewable energy over fossil fuels.

“Respondents understand that AI can bring economic and educational benefits, but they are also concerned about the physical infrastructure needed to fuel AI, especially data centers,” Soran Mohtadi, post-doctoral fellow at the Hobby School and a researcher on the report, said in a news release. “This physical infrastructure demands more electricity and water, leading to environmental impacts.”

Experts estimate that 6.5 gigawatts of data center capacity will be added to the Texas grid by 2030. And Houston’s data center capacity is predicted to more than double by 2028.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas also projects electricity demand could reach 218 gigawatts by 2031, which would be more than double the record peak set in August 2023. Data centers are expected to account for 86 gigawatts of that new demand.

Survey respondents also said they are concerned about the state's future water supply, given the large amounts of water that data centers need to stay cool.

In terms of who’s responsible for that issue, 57.6 percent of respondents said they put the onus on Texas lawmakers, while 31.5 percent say tech companies should be responsible.

Additionally, more than 75 percent of respondents believed that data center developers and technology companies—not residents—should bear the cost of infrastructure upgrades to support data centers.

“Every decision legislators make has implications on residents’ everyday lives and local infrastructure now and in the future,” Maria P. Perez Arguelles, lead researcher on the report and research assistant professor at the Hobby School, added in the news release. “This issue is going to become more important in years to come, so this is just the beginning.”

Read the full report here.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

American Airlines and Google ink record-breaking deal for cleaner jet fuel

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Fort Worth-based American Airlines has sealed a record-breaking deal with tech giant Google to bolster the use of cleaner jet fuel.

The deal involves Google’s purchase of sustainable aviation fuel certificates tied to fuel that American will use at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, one of the airline’s hubs. These certificates enable companies like Google to pay for the environmental benefits of sustainable jet fuel without actually using the fuel.

American and Google say this is the largest publicly announced certificate deal between an airline and a corporate customer.

Google says environmental gains from the certificates will help it cut emissions from employees’ business travel.

The agreement covers 35 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over three years, resulting in a nearly 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. American has agreed to buy the fuel from San Antonio-based Valero.

“Our industry-leading agreement with Google is a critical step forward in reducing emissions from our operations,” Jill Blickstein, American’s chief sustainability officer, said in a news release. “By working with leaders like Google who share our commitment to innovation, we’re helping to grow demand for [cleaner jet fuel] and support the development of a stronger, more resilient market.”

Sustainable aviation fuel can reduce emissions by up to 80 percent compared with traditional jet fuel. It is made from feedstocks, like waste oil and fats, or it can be produced synthetically using captured carbon dioxide and renewable electricity.

The aviation industry accounts for about 2.5 percent of carbon dioxide emissions around the world, according to the International Energy Agency.

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