At the GHP's Future of Global Energy event, panelists discussed the opportunities for scale in Houston. Photo by Natalie Harms/EnergyCapital

Time is of the essence when it comes to scaling energy transition businesses in Houston — at least that's what a group of panelists agreed on at a recent event from the Greater Houston Partnership.

The GHP's Future of Global Energy event, which took place on October 9, featured a panel entitled, "Epicenter of Energy Innovation for Scale" and was moderated by Barbara Burger, former president of Chevron Technology Ventures and current startup adviser and mentor. Joining Burger was Kristina Lund, president of Pattern Energy; Brooke Vandygriff, COO of HIF Global: and Bud Vos, CEO of MetOx International. All three companies have and plan to continue scaling in Houston.

The conversation covered some of the unique achievements each of the panelists' companies have reached recently, including HIF Global's millions raised to create e-fuels, MetOx's $25 million series B extension, and Pattern Energy's Southern Spirit project scoring $360 million from the Department of Energy to connect Texas's ERCOT to other states.

After covering the momentum each company has right now, Burger asked each of the panelists why Houston makes sense as a place for scaling their energy transition business.

"The U.S. has a great regulatory environment, ERCOT specifically. Texas is in the business of permitting projects," Vandygriff says. "If you take the right steps, you can get your permits. They are very responsive to attracting and recruiting businesses here."

Also attractive is Houston's existing energy workforce. Even when it comes to technology roles, Houston delivers.

"There is great tech talent here," Vos says, pointing out that Bill Gates called Houston the "Silicon Valley of energy" when he was here for CERAWeek. "I think there's an element of that that's very true. There's a lot innovation, there's a lot of creative thinking, and being able to come out of these businesses with huge momentum then go into startups and innovate is a culture change that I think Houston is going through."

The panelists, most of whom are not Houston natives, agreed in a welcoming culture within the business sector.

"I really think that Houston offers great hospitality, and the energy networks here are so strong," Lund says. "You feel the energy of the city."

By understanding the barriers they encounter, leaders, managers, and recruiters can implement targeted strategies to create more inclusive and diverse work environments. Photo via Getty Images

Houston expert analyzes women's role, challenges in the energy industry

guest column

The Women in Energy Global Study is an annual guide that delivers insights on how to retain female talent in a challenging world. It’s a critical roadmap for business leaders, managers, recruiters, and diversity and inclusion professionals to what women want, need, and can offer in the global energy workplace.

The report dives into the data to reveal the nature and aspirations of the female energy workforce. It explores the kids of jobs women are doing and the level of seniority that they are reaching, the career issues they face, what motivates them to contribute their skills to the energy transition and what they need to truly thrive.

The energy transition was a strong thread running through this year’s global survey with a commitment to Net Zero being the stand-out factor that attracts women to a company. Respondents came from an even greater variety of sectors and roles both within and outside the energy industry, reflecting the growing richness and complexity of energy today and the exciting new opportunities it offers.

This year's results showed that oil and gas is the largest employer of women, followed by renewables, and most respondents have reached middle-management level in their career. However, there are still more women than men at the bottom and more men at the top. Women are more likely to be in project management, while men are more likely to be in engineering, and only 6 percent of field services roles are held by women.

Work-life interface and flexibility

Employers appear to be rolling back some of the flexible working policies introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic yet offering options for where and when work is an important value proposition for any company wanting to attract and retain talent.

The good news is that most men and women feel they now have a good work life balance, a positive shift from last year when most said they didn't. Women said that better flexible working would make the most difference to work-life balance.

Attracting and developing diverse talent and helping women thrive

Companies’ commitment to DEI appears to be declining, a reversal in trend from previous years. If this is more than just lack of visibility of what has become "business as usual," then organizations need to remember that better DEI leads to better business performance and it is critical to communicate efforts in this area.

Key things women want from their employer are better professional development, sponsorship and mentoring, flexible working and the opportunity for job-share or part-time working, but there appears to be delivery gap between availability of policies and their uptake.

The demand for good paternity leave is huge among men – more than half said they wanted to see it introduced or improved – and this could be a gamechanger for both sexes. Additionally, a strong commitment to net zero still makes a company more attractive to both women and men. Other key factors for women when choosing their employer are an inclusive workplace culture, benefits and a commitment to DEI.

Time to pave the way

When we amplify the voices of women in the global energy market, we not only bring attention to the challenges they face but also highlight the vast potential they hold. By understanding the barriers they encounter, leaders, managers, and recruiters can implement targeted strategies to create more inclusive and diverse work environments. This not only benefits women in the industry but also fosters innovation and drives growth in our ever-evolving energy sector. As we pave the way for more opportunities and empowerment for women in energy, we are shaping a brighter and more sustainable future for all.

———

Jayne Stewart is vice president of oil, gas and chemicals across the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. for NES Fircroft. She is based in Houston.

The future of the oil and gas workforce isn't looking too bright when it comes to recruiting, the Wall Street Journal reports. Photo via Getty Images

Report: College enrollment in petroleum programs — including in Texas — sees historic drop

looking forward

Student enrollment in petroleum engineering programs at universities — including Texas schools — has dropped significantly, according to a recent report.

This prospective energy workforce is concerned about job security as the industry moves forward in the energy transition, reports the Wall Street Journal. The number of students enrolled in petroleum engineering programs has decreased to its lowest point in a decade, the WSJ found, breaking the typical cycle, which "ebbed and flowed" alongside the price of oil.

This decline is estimated as a 75 percent drop in enrollment since 2014, Lloyd Heinze, a Texas Tech University professor, tells the WSJ. The article specifies that the University of Texas at Austin has seen a 42 percent decline since its peak enrollment in 2015, and Texas A&M University has dropped 63.3 percent. Both schools' petroleum engineering programs are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, by U.S. News and World Report. Texas Tech, which ties with the University of Houston at No. 9 on the U.S. News report, has seen a 88.1 percent decline since its peak in 2015. UH data wasn't included in the article.

The article highlights declines at Colorado School of Mines (87.7 percent), Louisiana State University (89 percent), and University of Oklahoma (90 percent) since their peak enrollment in 2015.

A decline in future workforce for the energy industry would directly affect Houston's economy. According to the 2023 Houston Facts report from the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston held 23.8 percent of the nation’s jobs in oil and gas extraction (33,400 of 140,200) 17.0 percent of jobs in oil field services (33,600 of 198,100), and 9.6 percent of jobs in manufacturing of agricultural, construction and mining equipment (20,400 of 212,000), based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Barbara Burger tells the WSJ that new climatetech-focused startups have emerged and become more attractive to both college graduates and current oil and gas workforce. “There’s competition in a way that probably wasn’t there 15 years ago,” she shares.

The lack of college student pipeline paired with the diminishing workforce from emerging companies poses a challenge to incubant energy corporations, many of which have invested in programs at schools to better attract college graduates. The WSJ article points to BP's $4 million fellowship program with U.S. universities announced in February.

Just this week, Baker Hughes granted $100,000 to the University of Houston's Energy Transition Institute, which was founded last year with backing from Shell. In a recent interview with EnergyCapital, Joseph Powell, founding director of UH Energy Transition Institute, explains how the institute was founded to better engage with college students and bring them into the transitioning industry.

"It takes a lot of energy to process chemicals, plastics, and materials in a circular manner," he says. "Developing that workforce of the future means we need the students who want to engage in these efforts and making sure that those opportunities are available across the board to people of all different economic backgrounds in terms of participating in what is going to be just a tremendous growth engine for the future in terms of jobs and opportunities."

Clean energy jobs are already in Texas, and are ripe for the taking, according to a recent SmartAsset report that found that 2.23 percent of workers in the Houston area hold down jobs classified as “green.” While oil and gas positions are still paying top dollar, these clean energy jobs reportedly pay an average of 21 percent more than other jobs.

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Houston venture firm invests in Virginia fusion power plant company in collaboration with TAMU

fusion funding

Houston-based climate tech venture firm Ecosphere Ventures has partnered with Virginia Venture Partners and Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation’s venture capital program to invest in Virginia-based NearStar Fusion Inc., which develops fusion energy power plants.

NearStar aims to use its proprietary plasma railgun technology to safely and affordably power baseload electricity on and off the power grid through a Magnetized Target Impact Fusion (MTIF) approach, according to a news release from the company.

NearStar’s power plants are designed to retrofit traditional fossil fuel power plants and are expected to serve heavy industry, data centers and military installations.

“Our design is well-suited to retrofit coal-burning power plants and reuse existing infrastructure such as balance of plant and grid connectivity, but I’m also excited about leveraging the existing workforce because you won’t need PhDs in plasma physics to work in our power plant,” Amit Singh, CEO of NearStar Fusion, said in a news release.

NearStar will also conduct experiments at the Texas A&M Hypervelocity Impact Laboratory (HVIL) in Bryan, Texas, on prototype fuel targets and evolving fuel capsule design. The company plans to publish the results of the experiments along with a concept paper this year. NearStar will work with The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to develop computer performance models for target implosions.

NearStar’s MTIF approach will utilize deuterium, which is a common isotope of hydrogen found in water. The process does not use tritium, which NearStar believes will save customers money.

“While avoiding tritium in our power plant design reduces scientific gain of the fusion process, we believe the vastly reduced system complexity and cost savings of eliminating complicated supply chains, regulatory oversight, and breeding of tritium allows NearStar to operate power plants more profitably and serve more customers worldwide, ”Douglas Witherspoon, NearStar founder and chief scientist, said in a news release.

Houston’s Ecosphere Ventures invests in climate tech and sustainability innovations from pre-seed to late-seed stages in the U.S. Ecosphere also supports first-time entrepreneurs and technical founders.

Solar farms are booming and putting thousands of hungry sheep to work

Solar Power

On rural Texas farmland, beneath hundreds of rows of solar panels, a troop of stocky sheep rummage through pasture, casually bumping into one another as they remain committed to a single task: chewing grass.

The booming solar industry has found an unlikely mascot in sheep as large-scale solar farms crop up across the U.S. and in the plain fields of Texas. In Milam County, outside Austin, SB Energy operates the fifth-largest solar project in the country, capable of generating 900 megawatts of power across 4,000 acres.

How do they manage all that grass? With the help of about 3,000 sheep, which are better suited than lawnmowers to fit between small crevices and chew away rain or shine.

The proliferation of sheep on solar farms is part of a broader trend — solar grazing — that has exploded alongside the solar industry.

Agrivoltaics, a method using land for both solar energy production and agriculture, is on the rise with more than 60 solar grazing projects in the U.S., according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The American Solar Grazing Association says 27 states engage in the practice.

"The industry tends to rely on gas-powered mowers, which kind of contradicts the purpose of renewables," SB Energy asset manager James Hawkins said.

A sunny opportunity
Putting the animals to work on solar fields also provides some help to the sheep and wool market, which has struggled in recent years. The inventory of sheep and lamb in Texas fell to 655,000 in January 2024, a 4% drop from the previous year, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Because solar fields use sunny, flat land that is often ideal for livestock grazing, the power plants have been used in coordination with farmers rather than against them.

Sheepherder JR Howard accidentally found himself in the middle of Texas' burgeoning clean energy transition. In 2021, he and his family began contracting with solar farms — sites with hundreds of thousands of solar modules — to use his sheep to eat the grass.

What was once a small business has turned into a full-scale operation with more than 8,000 sheep and 26 employees.

"Just the growth has been kind of crazy for us," said Howard, who named his company Texas Solar Sheep. "It's been great for me and my family."

Following the herd
Some agriculture experts say Howard's success reflects how solar farms have become a boon for some ranchers.

Reid Redden, a sheep farmer and solar vegetation manager in San Angelo, Texas, said a successful sheep business requires agricultural land that has become increasingly scarce.

"Solar grazing is probably the biggest opportunity that the sheep industry had in the United States in several generations," Redden said.

The response to solar grazing has been overwhelmingly positive in rural communities near South Texas solar farms where Redden raises sheep for sites to use, he said.

"I think it softens the blow of the big shock and awe of a big solar farm coming in," Redden said.

Fielding more research
Agrivoltaics itself isn't new. Solar farms are land-intensive and require a lot of space that could be used for food production. Agrivoltaics compensates by allowing the two to coexist, whether growing food or caring for livestock.

There is a lot still unknown about the full effects of solar grazing, said Nuria Gomez-Casanovas, an assistant professor in regenerative system ecology at Texas A&M University.

Not enough studies have been done to know the long-term environmental impacts, such as how viable the soil will be for future agriculture, although Gomez-Casanovas suspects solar grazing may improve sheep productivity because the panels provide shade and can be more cost-efficient than mowing.

"We really have more questions than answers," Gomez-Casanovas said. "There are studies that show that the land productivity is not higher versus solar alone or agriculture alone, so it's context-dependent."

As one of Texas' largest solar sheep operators, Howard has more clients than he can handle. He expects to add about 20 more employees by the end of this year, which would nearly double his current workforce. As for the sheep, he has enough already.

Chevron and partners to develop innovative power plants to support AI-focused data centers

power partners

Houston-based Chevron U.S.A. Inc., San Francisco investment firm Engine No. 1, and Boston electric service company GE Vernova have announced a partnership to create natural gas power plants in the United States. These plants support the increased demand for electricity at data centers, specifically those developing artificial intelligence solutions.

“The data centers needed to scale AI require massive amounts of 24/7 power. Meeting this demand is forecasted to require significant investment in power generation capacity, while managing carbon emissions and mitigating the risk of grid destabilization,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth, shared in a LinkedIn post.

The companies say the plants, known as “power foundries,” are expected to deliver up to four gigawatts, equal to powering 3 million to 3.5 million U.S. homes, by the end of 2027, with possible project expansion. Their design will allow for the future integration of lower-carbon solutions, such as carbon capture and storage and renewable energy resources.

They are expected to leverage seven GE Vernova 7HA natural gas turbines, which will serve co-located data centers in the Southeast, Midwest and West. The exact locations have yet to be specified.

“Energy is the key to America’s AI dominance, “ Chris James, founder and chief investment officer of investment firm Engine No. 1, said in a news release. “By using abundant domestic natural gas to generate electricity directly connected to data centers, we can secure AI leadership, drive productivity gains across our economy and restore America’s standing as an industrial superpower. This partnership with Chevron and GE Vernova addresses the biggest energy challenge we face.”

According to the companies, the projects offer cost-effective and scalable solutions for growth in electrical demand while avoiding burdening the existing electrical grid. The companies plan to also use the foundries to sell surplus power to the U.S. power grid in the future.