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Leader tapped for Texas 'nuclear renaissance' and more energy news to know

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Jarred Shaffer is now director of the nuclear energy office, which administers the $350 million Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund. Photo via uh.edu

Editor's note: The top energy transition stories for the start of October include Texas' big bet on nuclear energy, ERCOT's innovative efforts, CenterPoint's capital improvement plan, and more. Read on for the five most-read EnergyCapitalHTX stories published Oct.1-15, 2025:


1. Policy adviser tapped to lead ‘nuclear renaissance’ in Texas

Jarred Shaffer has been named director of the new Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office. Photo via LinkedIn.

As Texas places a $350 million bet on nuclear energy, a budget and policy adviser for Gov. Greg Abbott has been tapped to head the newly created Texas Advanced Nuclear Energy Office. Jarred Shaffer is now director of the nuclear energy office, which administers the $350 million Texas Advanced Nuclear Development Fund. The fund will distribute grants earmarked for the development of more nuclear reactors in Texas. Continue reading.

2. ERCOT steps up grid innovation efforts to support growing power demand

ERCOT has launched its new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative to help resolve grid challenges and meet growing demand. Photo via Getty Images

As AI data centers gobble up more electricity, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) — whose grid supplies power to 90 percent of Texas — has launched an initiative to help meet challenges presented by an increasingly strained power grid. ERCOT, based in the Austin suburb of Taylor, said its new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative will tackle research and prototyping of emerging technology and concepts to “deeply understand the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution, positioning ERCOT to lead in the future energy landscape.” Continue reading.

3. CenterPoint launches $65B capital improvement plan

CenterPoint Energy has launched a $65 million capital improvement plan that will focus on building and maintaining a “resilient” electric grid. Photo via centerpointenergy.com

To support rising demand for power, Houston-based utility company CenterPoint Energy has launched a $65 billion, 10-year capital improvement plan. CenterPoint said that in its four-state service territory — Texas, Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio — the money will go toward building and maintaining a “resilient” electric grid and a safe natural gas system. Continue reading.

4. UH projects propose innovative reuse of wind turbines and more on Gulf Coast

The Houston projects involve the innovative reuse of oil rig platforms and wind turbines. Courtesy rendering

Two University of Houston science projects have been selected as finalists for the Gulf Futures Challenge, which will award a total of $50 million to develop ideas that help benefit the Gulf Coast. Sponsored by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Gulf Coast Research Program and Lever for Change, the competition is designed to spark innovation around problems in the Gulf Coast, such as rising sea levels, pollution, energy security, and community resiliency. The two UH projects beat out 162 entries from organizations based in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Continue reading.

5. Energy startup Base Power raises $1 billion series C round

Base Power, founded by Justin Lopas and Zach Dell, has closed one of the largest venture capital deals of the year. Photo courtesy Base Power.

Austin-based startup Base Power, which offers battery-supported energy in the Houston area and other regions, has raised $1 billion in series C funding—making it one of the largest venture capital deals this year in the U.S. Continue reading.

For the first time, Texas's ERCOT grid will be connected to other states' grids thanks to funding from the Department of Energy. Photo via Getty Images

$360M DOE grant to fund project that will connect ERCOT to US power grid

powering on

Thanks to recently announced funding, the power grid for the territory served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) will be connected to grids in other states.

Officials hope building a 320-mile transmission line that connects the ERCOT electric grid to electric grids in the Southeast will prevent power outages like the massive blackout that occurred in 2022 when a winter storm blasted Texas.

San Francisco-based Pattern Energy says its Southern Spirit project will cost more than $2.6 billion. Full-scale construction is supposed to get underway in 2028, and the project is set to go online in 2031.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently approved up to $360 million for the transmission project. The transmission line will stretch from Texas’ border with Louisiana to Mississippi. It’ll supply about 3,000 megawatts of electricity in either direction. That’s enough power for about 750,000 residential customers during ERCOT’s peak hours.

ERCOT’s more than 54,100 miles of transmission lines supply power to about 90 percent of Texans.

“The U.S. transmission network is the backbone of our nation’s electricity system. Though our grid has served U.S. energy needs for more than a century, our country’s needs are changing,” David Turk, under secretary at the Department of Energy, says in a news release.

“DOE’s approach to deploying near-term solutions and developing long-term planning tools will ensure our electric grid is more interconnected and resilient than ever before,” Turk adds, “while also supporting greater electricity demand.”

The other three projects that recently received funding from the DOE include:

  • Aroostook Renewable Project, which will construct a new substation in Haynesville, Maine, and a 111-mile transmission line connecting to a substation in Pittsfield, Maine.
  • Cimarron Link, a 400-mile HVDC transmission line from Texas County, Oklahoma to Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • Southline, which will construct a 108-mile transmission line between Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and Las Cruces, New Mexico. The DOE previously supported a 175-mile line from Hidalgo County, New Mexico, to Pima County, Arizona, in Southline Phase 1 on the first round of the Transmission Facilitation Program.

This month's funding completes the $2.5 billion in awards from the Transmission Facilitation Program which is administered through the Building a Better Grid Initiative that launched in January 2022. Its mission has been to develop nationally significant transmission lines, increase resilience by connecting regions of the country and improve access to clean energy sources, according to the DOE.

Earlier this year, ERCOT, which manages 90 percent of Texas’ power supply, forecasted a major spike in demand for electricity over the next five to seven years

The 1-gigawatt site will be constructed at a cost of approximately $8 billion. Photo courtesy ECL

California co. announces fully sustainable, hydrogen-powered data center in Houston

moving in

The Houston area will soon be home to what's being lauded as the first fully sustainable 1-gigawatt data center on a 600-acres site east of Houston.

Data center-as-a-service company ECL, headquartered in Mountain View, California, announced its plans to build the ECL TerraSite-TX1. Hardware and cloud service company Lambda will serve as its first tenant. Lambda and other AI leaders will get access to necessary space and power for the next wave zero emission innovations.

Phase 1 of TerraSite-TX1 will be complete by summer of 2025 with a cost of approximately $450 million. The 50 megawatt of data center capacity will be utilized by data center cloud and AI cloud operators. The 1-gigawatt site will be constructed at a cost of approximately $8 billion. The funding will come from ECL and financial partners.

ECL Terrasite-TX1 comes at a needed time for Texas with The Electric Reliability Council of Texas stating on June 12 that the state’s power grid needs will grow approximately double by 2030. This is due in part to the growth of data centers and AI. The ECL Terrasite-TX1 is built to help eliminate the stress on the state’s power grid and help facilitate “state-level economic development and growth of the AI industry,” according to a news release.

ECL houston data centerThe project will span over 600 acres east of Houston. Rendering courtesy ECL

ECL data centers are built to be modular, which allows for expansion in 1-megawatt increments. They are “ built to suit” and delivered in less than 12 months, which is shorter than the industry standard of 36 to 48.

“While others talk about delivering off-grid, hydrogen-powered data centers in five, ten, or 20 years, only ECL is giving the AI industry the space, power, and peace of mind they and their customers need, now,” Yuval Bachar, co-founder and CEO of ECL, says in a news release. “The level of innovation that we have introduced to the market is unprecedented and will serve not only us and our customers but the entire data center industry for decades to come.”

ECL’s ECL-MV1 is the world’s first off-grid, hydrogen-powered modular data center that operates 24/7 with zero emissions, less noise, and a negative water footprint that replenishes water to the community. ECL-MV1 offers a 10x increase in “energy efficiency with a power usage effectiveness of 1.05 and a 7-times improvement in data density per rack, which is ideal for AI high-density demand” according to the release.

“The data center technology committed to by ECL is truly transformative in the industry,” Lambda's Vice President for Data Center Infrastructure Ken Patchett adds. “We believe ECL’s technology could unlock a powerful and eco-conscious foundation for AI advancement. This new infrastructure could give researchers and developers essential computational resources while drastically reducing the environmental impact of AI operations.”

Quidnet Energy has entered into a strategic partnership with Hunt Energy Network, and the two Texas companies will work on a build-transfer program for 300 MW of storage projects in Texas. Photo via quidnetenergy.com

Houston energy storage company forms $10M partnership to enhance storage in ERCOT region

teaming up

A Houston-based company that's developing long-duration energy storage solutions announced a $10 million investment and partnership with a Texas corporation.

Quidnet Energy has entered into a strategic partnership with Hunt Energy Network, an affiliate of Dallas-based Hunt Energy that develops and operates distributed energy resources. The two Texas companies will work on a build-transfer program for 300 MW of storage projects that uses Quidnet's Geomechanical Energy Storage technology in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid operating region.

“Hunt Energy Network brings an extensive and proven track record across diverse energy businesses, making them an ideal partner to address the need for large-scale, long-duration energy storage in Texas,” Joe Zhou, CEO of Quidnet Energy, says in a news release. “We’re thrilled to have them as an investor, partner, and board member, and we look forward to jointly advancing the deployment of energy storage solutions, particularly in regions like ERCOT where the need is most pressing.”

Todd Benson, the chief innovation officer of Hunt Energy, will join Quidnet's board of directors as a part of the partnership.

“Quidnet Energy's GES technology presents a unique opportunity to revolutionize energy storage, and we’re excited to invest in a solution that purposefully transforms existing resources to expand access to long-duration storage,” adds Pat Wood, III, CEO of HEN. “ERCOT's growing supply of renewable energy makes this region ideal for the deployment of our technology, and we’re pleased to work with another Texas innovator to build a more resilient grid for all ERCOT customers.”

Quidnet’s technology, which can provide over 10 hours of storage, uses drilling and hydropower machinery to store renewable energy. Essentially, the company, founded in 2013, is using water storage to power carbon-free electric grid approach to energy.

One year ago, Quidnet secured $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. Just a few months after that, the company received an additional $2 million from the DOE for its project, entitled "Energy Storage Systems for Overpressure Environments," which is taking place in East Texas.

In Texas last month, coal use dropped and solar energy soared, according to a new report. Photo via Pexels

Report: Solar tops coal in Texas for energy generation for the first time

by the numbers

For the first time in Texas, according to a recent report, solar energy generation surpassed the output by coal.

The report — from the Institute For Energy Economics and Financial Analysis — sourced the Energy Information Administration’s hourly grid monitor for March 2024. This shift in a predominantly oil and gas dominated history of Texas energy output, was due to solar power’s 3.26 million megawatt-hours to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid, compared to coal’s 2.96 million MWh.

In addition, coal’s market share fell below 10 percent to 9 percent for the first time ever, to just over 9 percent. The increase in solar energy pushed solar’s share of ERCOT generation to more than 10 percent for the month, which was also a first.

Due to its sheer size, Texas is the No.1 state for solar capacity. According to the report from SmartAsset, the Lone Star State has the most clean energy capacity at 56,405 megawatts, but continues to trail states with similar geographic characteristics in overall clean energy prevalence.

Texas only 38 percent of the state’s electricity capacity comes from clean electricity, and it has the second-largest solar capacity, which means Texas has the most means, space, and potential to accommodate cleaner electricity. Texas as a whole, ranked No. 22 on the list for states with the most clean energy in the SmartAsset report.

In Texas, generation in March 2024 was 1.17 million MWh more year-over-year, which is a 56 percent increase. ERCOT data shows that the system currently has 22,710 megawatts (MW) of operational solar capacity according to IEEFA, and is expected to expand by almost one-third by the end of 2024 with an additional 7,168 MW of capacity added. The number just considers Texas solar projects that have set aside the financing required to get onto the ERCOT grid and that have a signed interconnection agreement.

Texas burned 50.7 million tons of coal for electricity, which was 13 percent of the U.S. total in 2023 according to the EIA grid monitor. Coal's annual share of ERCOT demand ranged from 36 percent to 40 percent from 2003 through 2014. The last year percent. In 2020, coal was under 20 percent in 2020; and was less than 15 percent in 2023 supplying just 13.9 percent of the system’s total demand.

The IEEFA notes coal’s low March production is important because in recent years it has been the moderate temperatures of April and May and steady winds that have affected the usage and the market share.

The GridStor project will boost the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid. It’s GridStor’s first acquisition in ERCOT territory. Photo via gridstor.com

Oregon energy storage company plans 450-megawatt facility in Galveston County

coming soon

An Oregon startup has purchased a 450-megawatt battery energy storage project in Galveston County.

GridStor, a Portland, Oregon-based developer and operator of battery energy storage systems, bought the project from Moab, Utah-based Balanced Rock Power. The Utah company develops utility-scale solar and energy storage projects.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

GridStor, founded in 2022, is backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management. The Portland Business Journal reported last November that Goldman Sachs had raised a $410 million fund to fuel its energy storage strategy.

Construction on the Evelyn Battery Energy Storage project is scheduled to get underway this summer, with the system projected to go online in the spring of 2025.

“Battery storage is a scalable and near-term solution to powering historic load growth in Texas,” Chris Taylor, CEO of GridStor, says in a news release. “Every day, batteries are consistently providing energy to stabilize the power system and meet hours of greatest demand in the state.”

The GridStor project will boost the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. It’s GridStor’s first acquisition in ERCOT territory.

The project will be built near the Hidden Lakes substation, which is owned by Texas-New Mexico Power, which now just serves Texas. This proximity will enable batteries to quickly begin grid-connected operations.

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Meta and OpenAI agree to follow Texas’ new standards for data centers

data demands

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram; OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT; and other tech companies have agreed to follow Texas’ new standards for the development of data centers.

As Texas politicians respond to communities’ increased pushback against power- and water-dependent data centers, Gov. Greg Abbott recently established guidelines for data center projects. President Trump and Gina Jinojosa, a Democrat who will oppose Abbott in the November election, have leveled criticism about the new rules.

Abbott recently directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to ensure data centers:

  • Pay for their electrical infrastructure instead of shifting costs to families and small businesses
  • Reuse their own water
  • Reduce the cost of electricity for Texans
  • Prevent disruption to residential neighborhoods
  • Eliminate reliance on taxpayer-funded financial incentives

Abbott and Trump differ over data center ‘guardrails’

After releasing the guidelines, Abbott put a moratorium on new data centers in the state.

Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT to audit all data center projects going through ERCOT’s approval process for connecting to the state’s power grid. The two agencies must complete their review before a data center project can join the grid. Any project that fails to comply with the agencies’ requirements won’t be permitted access to the grid.

“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” Abbott, who’s running for a fourth consecutive term as governor, said in a news release. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”

Abbott has hailed Texas as “the epicenter of AI development.”

In a recent interview with Punchbowl News, President Trump questioned the data center rules imposed by Abbott, a fellow Republican.

“I saw Texas the other day sort of is against data centers,” Trump said. “I think it’s a mistake. And I’m not taking positions, I just think it’s a mistake, because there are other communities that want it. When a community wants it, it means a lot of money is going to come into that community.”

In a statement, Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, stresses that the governor’s data center standards don’t wield the same power that laws would.

“We need a moratorium on data centers until the legislature can meet to put in place real protections so Texans can have a seat at the table to decide if and how data centers come into their communities,” Hinojosa said. “When the companies being regulated are cheering for the rules, you know the rules were written for them, not for Texans.”

The Texas Tribune has identified at least 248 planned data centers in the state, with perhaps hundreds more that aren’t as far along in the development process. At least 355 data centers already operate in Texas. The majority of the new data centers will help power AI software and services.

Meta promises it will be ‘paying our own way‘

In a blog post, Meta commends Abbott’s data center initiative. Meta and investment manager BlackRock are investing more than $10 billion to build a data center campus in El Paso. The 12-building campus, expected to go online in 2028, will be capable of delivering 1 gigawatt of computing power to support Meta’s AI technology.

BlackRock will own 80 percent of the project, and Meta will own the remaining 20 percent.

Meta’s two other Texas data centers are in Fort Worth and Temple.

“Whether it’s creating jobs, growing opportunities for local businesses, or improving energy and water infrastructure, we’re committed to strengthening communities and paying our own way,” Meta says of Abbott’s directive.

OpenAI commits to helping Texas maintain AI leadership

In an Aug. 7 letter to Abbott, OpenAI says it, too, will follow Texas’ data center standards. In fact, the company says the standards reflect practices it already applies to data center projects.

“Texas has built a strong environment for innovation, energy, and economic growth,” the company says. “OpenAI wants to help Texas remain a national leader in AI while demonstrating that this growth can be responsible, reliable, and beneficial to Texans.”

OpenAI is building a $470 million data center in Milam County, and last year it launched operations at a data center campus in Abilene as part of its $500 billion Stargate initiative with Oracle and SoftBank.

Abbott’s office also announced Aug. 11 that EdgeConneX and Stream Data Centers have also pledged to comply with the regulations. Read more here.

ExxonMobil expands Gulf Coast CCS business with Louisiana deal

carbon contract

Spring-based energy powerhouse ExxonMobil has picked up another project in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) market.

Natural gas pipeline operator Williams Cos. has tapped ExxonMobil to transport and store up to one metric ton per year of CO2 from Williams’ natural gas collection and processing plant in southwest Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale.

Williams will transport natural gas via its Louisiana Energy Gateway pipeline, then process the natural gas and deliver it to the Gulf Coast for export as liquefied natural gas (LNG). The LNG will be used in power generation, residential and commercial heating, and industrial processes.

Williams recently agreed to acquire Momentum Midstream for up to $5.5 billion to expand Williams’ LNG presence in the Haynesville Shale. Haynesville is the country’s third-largest producer of natural gas.

Once the deal closes, Williams will own a $1.5 billion project in southwest Louisiana that will expand capacity of the Transco natural gas distribution system. The system serves power and LNG-export customers. Williams will also gain over 4,000 miles of pipeline and more than one million acres.

While Williams is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it has a significant presence in Houston. Last month, Green Street’s Real Estate Alert reported Williams bought the 64-story, 1.4 million-square-foot Williams Tower south of The Galleria from Invesco Real Estate for more than $300 million. The company will occupy about 360,000 square feet in the skyscraper for its Houston hub.

Williams employs about 800 people in Bayou City, including roughly 700 who work at Williams Tower, and plans to hire another 100 by the end of this year.

The Williams deal is ExxonMobil’s seventh CCS contract. ExxonMobil’s CCS portfolio supports LNG, lower-carbon-intensity steel, ammonia, natural gas processing, industrial gases and methanol.

ExxonMobil has established a “carbon superhighway” along the Gulf Coast to fuel its CCS business. The company owns and operates a more than 1,300-mile CO2 pipeline system, the largest in the U.S.

“Carbon capture is becoming an increasingly important part of industrial operations, but capture alone doesn’t solve the problem of high emissions,” says ExxonMobil. “What matters next is how CO2 is transported, used, and stored.”

ExxonMobil’s CCS initiatives are aimed at capturing a chunk of the rapidly growing CCS market in the U.S. Straits Research forecasts the market will grow from $5.66 billion this year to $13.56 billion by 2034.

“It’s not every day you get to witness the birth of a new American industry, but that’s exactly what’s happening right now at the U.S. Gulf Coast,” Dominic Genetti, senior vice president of CCS at ExxonMobil, wrote in an article published last year on the company’s website.

Fervo Energy, Mercury Fund leaders named first experts in residence for TEX-E

energy mentors

Two leading companies in Houston's clean energy scene have been named the Texas Exchange for Energy & Climate Entrepreneurship's first experts in residence.

TEX-E announced this month that Houston-based geothermal unicorn Fervo Energy and venture capital firm Mercury Fund have joined the nonprofit's new Expert-in-Residence partnership. The program aims to connect TEX-E Fellows with "the people and organizations shaping the future of energy and entrepreneurship."

The 2026 TEX-E Fellows were named in June and include 67 students from six Texas universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nineteen are from Houston universities. See the full list here.

Through the Expert-in-Residence program, fellows will be able to network and work with:

"More than anything, students need the determination and creativity to step outside of their comfort zones and tackle problems that lack clear answers. At Fervo, we've consistently bet on young people who lack traditional 'hard skills' but are willing to embrace uncertainty and learn on the job. That open-mindedness will take students far," Jewett said in a prepared statement. Fervo named Jewett as COO in June.

TEX-E was founded in 2022 through partnerships with MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship and Greentown Labs. It works with university students from six schools: Rice University, University of Houston, Prairie View A&M University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and MIT.

The organization named Houston venture capital and innovation leader Sandy Guitar as its new executive director last year. Guitar previously served as general partner and managing director at Houston-based VC firm HX Venture Fund and is co-founder of Weathergage Capital.

TEX-E is known for its student track within the Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition at CERAWeek. It awarded $50,000 to student teams from the University of Texas and Rice University. Read more here.

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