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10+ Houston energy transition events to attend in September 2025

Must-Attend Meetings

The 22nd annual Energy Tech Venture Forum takes place September 18. Photo courtesy of Rice

Editor's note: September is here, and the calendar is full of must-attend energy transition events. Get the details on the top energy happenings in September 2025, and begin registering today. Please note: this article may be updated to include additional events.

September 3 — Houston Energy + Climate Tech Startup Week Preview Happy Hour

Head to the Ion for a networking happy hour to preview Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week 2025. Industry leaders, investors, startups, and key partners from Houston’s energy and climate innovation ecosystem will gather to share the inside scoop on the upcoming event's programming and opportunities.

This event takes place Wednesday, September 3 at 5:30 pm at the Ion. Click here to register.

September 3-4 — 11th Annual Digitalization in Oil & Gas Conference

This conference will delve deep into the intersection of digitalization and decarbonization, highlighting the transformation required for the oil and gas sector to stay relevant, resilient, and achieve business value. This year, the focus is on leveraging AI and generative AI, driving sustainability and workforce development, and achieving operational excellence through digitalization. Key objectives include building future-ready facilities, planning for a lower carbon market, and realizing business value through innovative solutions.

This event begins Wednesday, September 3 at Hilton Americas Houston. Click here to register.

September 8-10 — SPE Energy Transition Symposium

The SPE Energy Transition Symposium brings together professionals from multiple disciplines across the energy sector, offering a comprehensive platform for learning, networking, and collaboration. Its primary objective is to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of knowledge drawn from the insights of industry leaders, technical experts, academics, practitioners, representatives from the financial community, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leaders. This year's symposium is titled "Synergizing Innovation and Collaboration: Transforming Energy for a Sustainable Future."

This event begins Monday, September 8 at Houston Marriott Sugar Land. Click here to register.

September 12 — Workforce of the Future

UH Energy collaborates with the Society for Underwater Technology and SPRINT Robotics to host an immersive, full-day event spotlighting how AI and robotics are reshaping the energy industry. Industry leaders, innovators, and educators will converge to discuss how to empower the next generation of talent to lead the digital transformation of energy.

This event takes place Friday, September 12 at University of Houston Student Center South – Houston Room. Click here to register.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy & Climate Week

Houston Energy & Climate Week utilizes Houston's potential to propel global climate action. This gathering welcomes an unparalleled selection of global energy leaders and communities, giving participants opportunities to interact and discuss capital, technology, workforce, and policy needs. It is organized by Allies in Energy, a nonprofit dedicated to building energy and climate literacy and a pathway to the workforce of the future.

Following an invite-only dinner on Sunday, September 14, this event begins with Opening Ceremonies on Monday, September 15. Click here for details.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week

Launched in 2024, the official Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns for its second year, showcasing how Houston is developing and scaling real solutions for the dual challenge of meeting growing global energy demand while reducing carbon emissions. Join leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders, and startups from around the world for this showcase of the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry while driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

This event begins Monday, September 15 with a kickoff event at the Ion Plaza. Click here for details.

September 16 — Pilotathon 2025 & Company Showcase

EnergyTech Nexus hosts its annual Pilotathon — a high-impact event designed to fast-track pilot deployments for climate and energy tech startups. Expect a full day of curated startup pitches, a 50-plus company innovation showcase, and direct engagement with corporate partners, investors, and ecosystem leaders. The afternoon will also feature participants from the ETN CoPilot Accelerator. Startup applications and event registration is now open at www.pilotathon.com.

This event takes place Tuesday, September 16 at 8 am at GreenStreet. Click here to register.

September 18 — ACCEL Year 3 Showcase

As part of Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week, Greentown Labs will celebrate ACCEL, an accelerator program for startups led by BIPOC and other underrepresented founders. The third ACCEL cohort will present a showcase featuring their technologies, what they’ve accomplished in the first six months of the program, and where they’re headed next. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with industry leaders who are passionate about and building an inclusive and sustainable future.

This event takes place Thursday, September 18 at 5 pm at Greentown Labs. Click here to register.

September 18 — 22nd Annual Energy Tech Venture Forum

The Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum will showcase energy tech innovations to shift towards a more sustainable, reliable and lower carbon future. This anchor event of Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week will showcase quality companies and conversations, giving attendees the chance to connect with other leaders and see where energy is headed.

This event takes place Thursday, September 18 at Rice University. Click here to register.

September 22-23 — Southwest Process Technology Conference

The 16th Southwest Process Technology Conference, with the theme “Process Technology in 2025: Solid Foundation, Dynamic Future,” will feature a diverse range of keynote presentations and technical sessions, addressing key topics in the technology and business environment of the rapidly evolving oil refining and chemical industries along the Gulf Coast.

This event begins September 22 at the University of Houston. Click here to register.

September 29-30 — Energy Tax Equity and Credit Markets

Infocast's Energy Tax Equity and Credit Markets two-day event brings together the top tax equity investors, financial advisors, platform providers, lenders, and insurers to give critical insights into how to accelerate the dealmaking process. They will provide invaluable insights on navigating the impacts of IRA changes, qualifying projects to take advantage of tax equity investments, strategies for accelerating project financing pipelines, and a deep dive into how to obtain tax credit investments via both traditional and transfer markets.

This event begins Wednesday, September 29 at the C. Baldwin. Click here to register.

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Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns in September. Photo via GHP

10+ must-attend Houston energy transition events happening in Q3 2025

Must-Attend Meetings

Editor's note: Q3 is here, and with it, a full slate of must-attend events for Houston energy professionals. On the agenda are casual mixers, exciting showcases, week-long happenings, and more. Mark your calendars for these top Houston energy transition events coming up from July to September 2025, and begin registering today. Please note: this article may be updated to include additional events.

July 17 — TEX-E Energy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship networking mixer

The Texas Exchange for Energy & Climate Entrepreneurship hosts this casual networking event to connect the Houston energy and climate tech ecosystem.

This event takes place Thursday, July 17 at 5 pm at Second Draught. Click here to register.

July 29 — Center for Houston's Future presents Summer Salon

This year's Summer Salon breakfast program is titled "Digital Technology and AI: Challenges and Opportunities for Driving Energy Innovation." Sponsored by bp, it will feature a timely conversation about the intersection of digital technology (including AI) and energy innovation.

This event takes place Tuesday, July 29 at 7:30 am at Junior League of Houston. Click here to register.

August 21 — Transition on Tap

Greentown Labs’ signature networking event returns in August to foster conversations and connections within Houston's climate and energy transition ecosystem. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, philanthropists, and more are invited to attend, meet colleagues, discuss solutions, and engage with the growing community.

This event takes place Thursday, August 21 at 5:30 pm at Greentown Labs. Click here to register.

August 22 – Determined to Lead Women Lunch: Investing Through Market Cycles with Ellen Wilkirson

EnergyTech Nexus hosts a monthly Determined to Lead Women’s Lunch as part of its ongoing efforts to create safe spaces for women leaders in the energy transition to connect, learn, and lead. The August session features Ellen Wilkirson, principal at Rev Innovations. With deep experience across traditional and transition energy sectors, Wilkirson will share how she’s approached investing through multiple market and commodity cycles and what it means to be a clean energy investor in today’s evolving landscape.

This event takes place Friday, August 22 at 1 pm. Click here to register.

August 27-28 — 6th Texas Energy Forum 2025

The 6th Texas Energy Forum will dive deep into the strategies, policies, and innovative solutions that reinforce energy security for the United States and its allies and fuel economic growth — centered on Texas’ pivotal role in the global energy landscape. Key discussions will address the future of regulatory reform, tariffs, and tax incentives; advancements in oil, gas, and LNG markets; the expansion of power generation; and breakthroughs in EVs and charging infrastructure. This year's topic is "Texas: The Energy Innovation Powerhouse."

This event begins Wednesday, August 27 at the Petroleum Club of Houston. Click here to register.

September 3-4 — 11th Annual Digitalization in Oil & Gas Conference

This conference will delve deep into the intersection of digitalization and decarbonization, highlighting the transformation required for the oil and gas sector to stay relevant, resilient, and achieve business value. This year, the focus is on leveraging AI and generative AI, driving sustainability and workforce development, and achieving operational excellence through digitalization. Key objectives include building future-ready facilities, planning for a lower carbon market, and realizing business value through innovative solutions.

This event begins Wednesday, September 3 at Hilton Americas Houston. Click here to register.

September 8-10 — SPE Energy Transition Symposium

The SPE Energy Transition Symposium brings together professionals from multiple disciplines across the energy sector, offering a comprehensive platform for learning, networking, and collaboration. Its primary objective is to facilitate the exchange and dissemination of knowledge drawn from the insights of industry leaders, technical experts, academics, practitioners, representatives from the financial community, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leaders. This year's symposium is titled "Synergizing Innovation and Collaboration: Transforming Energy for a Sustainable Future."

This event begins Monday, September 8 at Houston Marriott Sugar Land. Click here to register.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy & Climate Week

Houston Energy & Climate Week utilizes Houston's potential to propel global climate action. This gathering welcomes an unparalleled selection of global energy leaders and communities, giving participants opportunities to interact and discuss capital, technology, workforce, and policy needs. It is organized by Allies in Energy, a nonprofit dedicated to building energy and climate literacy and a pathway to the workforce of the future.

Following an invite-only dinner on Sunday, September 14, this event begins with Opening Ceremonies on Monday, September 15. Click here for details.

September 15-19 — Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week

Launched in 2024, the official Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns for its second year, showcasing how Houston is developing and scaling real solutions for the dual challenge of meeting growing global energy demand while reducing carbon emissions. Join leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders, and startups from around the world for this showcase of the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry while driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

This event begins Monday, September 15 with a kickoff event at the Ion Plaza. Click here for details.

September 16 — Pilotathon 2025 & Company Showcase

EnergyTech Nexus hosts its annual Pilotathon — a high-impact event designed to fast-track pilot deployments for climate and energy tech startups. Expect a full day of curated startup pitches, a 50-plus company innovation showcase, and direct engagement with corporate partners, investors, and ecosystem leaders. The afternoon will also feature participants from the ETN CoPilot Accelerator. Startup applications and event registration is now open at www.pilotathon.com.

This event takes place Tuesday, September 16 at 8 am at GreenStreet. Click here to register.

September 18 — ACCEL Year 3 Showcase

As part of Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week, Greentown Labs will celebrate ACCEL, an accelerator program for startups led by BIPOC and other underrepresented founders. The third ACCEL cohort will present a showcase featuring their technologies, what they’ve accomplished in the first six months of the program, and where they’re headed next. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network with industry leaders who are passionate about and building an inclusive and sustainable future.

This event takes place Thursday, September 18 at 5 pm at Greentown Labs. Click here to register.

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Houston solar manufacturer expands facility, production capacity

houston expansion

Solar tracking and manufacturing company PV Hardware USA is increasing its production capacity and expanding its Houston facility in an effort to meet growing demands.

The move marks the company's third expansion in the Houston area in three years. PV Hardware reports a 400 percent surge in national market growth over the past three years, as solar-based projects have been pivotal in energy resilience efforts.

PV Hardware plans to increase the capacity at its Houston facility by 42 percent, according to a news release. With the additional capacity, PV Hardware expects a 35 percent increase in production of pre-assembled parts. The company has not announced whether any additional employees will be hired or the costs of expansion.

In September, the company completed its new dedicated pre-assembly facility, which will help migrate difficult assembly into an easier manufacturing setting. The new pre-assembly area will also assist with streamlined field installation, enhanced schedule predictability and reduction of manual labor.

Citybiz reports that the expansion totals approximately 34,200 square feet.

PV Hardware USA aims to make solar installation more efficient. For large-scale solar projects, PV Hardware USA’s pre-assembly process helps to relieve assembly work done by installation teams. According to PV Hardware USA, it reduces the number of on-site components by 70 percent.

“Traditionally, manufacturers pushed the assembly burden onto the jobsite,” Rodolfo Bitar, vice president of business development for PVH USA, told Renewable Energy Magazine. “We ask a different question: what work can be done more efficiently before the equipment ever leaves the factory? By managing the assembly of 188 loose parts per row in our controlled manufacturing environment, we remove field complexity and make installation highly predictable.”

PV Hardware USA produces single-axis solar trackers made in Texas and has supplied over 52 gigawatts of solar trackers worldwide.

“The expanded presence in Texas underscores a long-term commitment: bringing world-class solar expertise to local American manufacturing, supporting communities, and serving as a reliable partner through the clean energy transition,” the company said in the release.

In July of 2025, the company opened its 95,000-square-foot facility, which was the second Houston location following its initial $30 million U.S. manufacturing facility, which, at 50,000 square feet, is one of America's largest solar tracker manufacturing facilities.

Gulf of Mexico marine life dramatically declined after BP spill, study says

Gulf Life

In a deep, dark part of the Gulf of Mexico, the number of marine animals plummeted by about 60% in the years following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion, a new study found.

In a crucial part of the Gulf between the light surface and the darkest depths, where the BP-operated well failed and dumped 134 million gallons of oil, the number of fish found dropped by 63.5% from the year after the spill to 2015. Crustaceans, including shrimp and krill, a key food for whales, went down 62%, and larger animals like squid and octopuses fell 59.7%, according to a study published Monday in the journal PNAS.

And those populations haven't come close to recovering, the study found.

Researchers focused on the ocean's “twilight zone,” a vast area above the seafloor, where much of the surface marine life, including dolphins and whales, feast on creatures. Yet little is known about this gigantic ecosystem, and this region of the Gulf had not been studied before the 2010 spill, said study lead author Tracey Sutton, a biological oceanographer at Nova Southeastern University.

A 2011 post-spill exploration cited in the research, which used six sets of nets at different depths and acoustic sonar, gave scientists a good sense of how much sea life was in the area between the surface and 5,000 feet deep (1,500 meters). They returned to the same place with the same equipment three-and-a-half years later and found sea life was between one-third and one-quarter of what it was in 2011.

“We saw this big decline,” Sutton said. “The question was then why? So we looked at all of the natural variables we thought could account for it, namely temperature, oxygen supply and food. None of those vary with the decline. The event that did was the oil spill. So we think that’s the most likely cause of the decline.”

Researchers kept on sampling since 2015 and the low populations remained, with a slight rise in 2022 and 2023 that did not prove statistically significant or lasting, Sutton said.

Documenting the decline

Sutton's team documented the population declines with three different lines of evidence: what they caught in the nets, what their acoustic sonar found and genetic studies showing the species losing genetic diversity because of inbreeding.

A lot of marine life died instantly after the explosion, which killed 11 workers, and from nearly five months of leaking oil and gas. Those pollutants got stored in the eggs of survivors and subsequent generations of critters got more compromised and weaker, Sutton said.

BP spokesperson Paul Takahashi said the accident “forever changed” the company: “We have made many changes intended to help prevent an event like this from ever happening again.”

Both the oil and the dispersants used to clean the spill hurt fish, but in different ways, said study co-author Isabel Romero, a chemical oceanographer at the University of South Carolina. Oil is more toxic and an overall threat, but the dispersant breaks the oil into smaller droplets, increasing the exposure of animals that live in the deeper water column, she said.

Dispersants caused many problems, and new studies show that in future accidents, it would be better to avoid those chemicals and instead add agents that increase oil-munching microbes, said former National Science Foundation Director Rita Colwell, a University of Maryland environmental microbiologist who headed a 10-year, $500 million BP-funded program to study spill effects.

Sutton said his team couldn’t prove an exact causal link to the BP oil spill, but by eliminating the other possibilities and looking at the timing, it’s logically clear that the spill caused the problem.

The krill population dropped 72%. Lanternfish — odd fish with blue-green lights embedded over their bodies — are a third of what they used to be, Sutton said. The stunning but scary dragonfish — with sharp teeth, light organs and a lure attached to its head — also had big losses, he said.

“These are foundational species,” Sutton said. “They're the things most things eat. So it's no wonder that we had wholesale changes across the community.”

The inner ocean is more unknown than outer space

Scientists learned much about this unexplored area of the Gulf.

“One of our biggest findings from the whole thing is how connected the whole oceanic Gulf is from top to bottom because the animals move up and down,” Sutton said. “There are predators at the top that dive deep. Lots of things that are deep that come up at night. So the system is one very large pulsing system, rather than just a layered system like people might have thought beforehand.”

Outside scientists were especially bothered by where the spill damaged.

“We know more about space in some ways than we do about the inner ocean. Because we can’t see these regions, there is a tendency to assume everything is fine, but here we have a clear result showing that something went very wrong," Scripps Institution of Oceanography marine scientist Kaitlin Frasier said in an email.

Frasier, who wasn't part of the study released Monday, published a post-spill study in 2024 looking at Gulf of Mexico whales and dolphins, finding population drops as high as 83%.

“It’s shocking how a single failure in a drilling rig can have this vast and sustained impact over thousands of square kilometers, with little visible recovery over 13 years after the spill,” said Dalhousie University marine scientist Boris Worm, who wasn't part of the study. “It is important that we see this, because for the longest time these consequences were completely out of sight and out of mind.”

Worm and Colwell said this damage should be kept in mind as the world talks about deep-sea mining and increased oil drilling in deep waters.

These 5 trailblazing Houston startups are leading the energy transition

meet the finalists

Houston is home to a growing number of startups reshaping what it means to be called the "Energy Capital of the World."

As part of the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, our Energy Transition Business category honors those innovative startups that are providing solutions within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and more.

Five clean energy startups have been named finalists for the 2026 award. The finalists, selected by our esteemed panel of judges, range from a lower-emission steel producer to a diagnostics platform developer working to support batteries used in data centers.

Read more about these innovative businesses, their initiatives, and their inspirational founders below. The 2026 winners will be announced on InnovationMap.com in mid-November.

Capwell Services

Methane capture company Capwell Services works to eliminate vented oil and gas emissions economically for operators. According to the company, methane emissions are vented from most oil and gas facilities due to safety protocols, and operators are not able to capture the gas cost-effectively, leading operators to emit more than 14 million metric tons of methane per year in the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2022, Capwell specializes in low and intermittent flow vents for methane capture.

The company began as a University of Pennsylvania senior design project led by CEO Andrew Lane. It has since participated in programs with Greentown Labs, the Rice Clean Energy Accelerator and the Creative Destruction Lab Energy Cohort at Texas A&M University. The company moved to Houston in 2023 and raised a pre-seed round. It deployed two commercial units this year, according to its application.

FlowCellutions

Energytech startup FlowCellutions is developing a chemistry-agnostic diagnostics platform for flow and metal-air batteries supporting data centers and critical infrastructure. The platform is designed to help reduce operating costs, prevent failures and costly downtime, and extend battery lifetime from approximately seven years to more than 30 years. It has deployed four paid pilots and plans to take insights from the programs to develop its next-gen sensor platform technology.

CEO Becca Segel founded the company in 2022. It is a member of Greentown Labs, and Segel was a 2025 Activate Fellow. The company has raised over $2 million in non-dilutive funding and received a $1.5 million NSF SBIR Fast-Track award earlier this year.

Hertha Metals

Hertha Metals produces lower-cost, lower-emission steel and high-purity iron. The company has developed a single-step process that uses natural gas as a direct reductant instead of metallurgical coal, which cuts production costs by more than 25 percent and emissions by up to 50 percent, according to the company. The same process produces high-purity iron needed for high-purity steels and rare earth magnets. The company says it aims to "re-industrialize America’s production of critical materials."

Hertha Metals was founded by CEO Laureen Meroueh in 2022 and emerged from stealth last year with more than $17 million in venture capital funding. The company closed a $133.65 million Series A this month and also broke ground on its $100M high-purity iron factory known as Chalyx in Conroe.

Mars Materials

Clean chemical manufacturing business Mars Materials is working to convert captured carbon into resources, such as carbon fiber and wastewater treatment chemicals. The company develops and produces its drop-in chemical products in Houston and uses an in-licensed process for the National Renewable Energy Lab to produce acrylonitrile, which is used to produce plastics, synthetic fibers, and rubbers.

Founded in 2019 by CEO Aaron Fitzgerald, CTO Kristian Gubsch, and vice president of operations Trey Sheridan, the company has secured over $7.2M in financing and is backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Shell, Black & Veatch, and other organizations. It won in the Minority-founded Business Category in last year's Houston Innovation Awards.

Solidec

Chemical manufacturing company Solidec has developed autonomous generators that extract molecules from water and air and convert them into pure chemicals and fuels that are free of carbon emissions on-site, eliminating the need for transport, storage, and permitting. The company was founded around innovations developed by Rice University associate professor Haotian Wang.

The company was selected for the Chevron Technology Ventures’ Catalyst Program, Greentown Labs, NSF I-Corps and was part of the first cohort of the Activate Houston program. It won first place at the 2024 startup pitch competition at CERAWeek. Solidec was founded in 2023 by Wang, who serves as an advisor, CEO Ryan DuChanois, and CTO Yang Xia. It closed a $2.5 million seed round in 2025.

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