Thanks to a new partnership, Engie North America plans to add 'precycling' provisions to power purchase agreements on projects in the Midwest. Photo via Getting Images.

Houston-based Engie North America has partnered with Arizona-based Solarcycle to recycle 1 million solar panels on forthcoming projects with a goal of achieving project circularity.

The collaboration allows Engie to incorporate "precycling" provisions into power purchase agreements made on 375 megawatts worth of projects in the Midwest, which are expected to be completed in the next few years, according to a news release from Engie.

Engie will use Solarcycle's advanced tracking capabilities to ensure that every panel on the selected projects is recycled once it reaches its end of life, and that the recovered materials are returned to the supply chain.

Additionally, all construction waste and system components for the selected projects will be recycled "to the maximum degree possible," according to Engie.

“We are delighted to bring this innovative approach to life. Our collaboration with Solarcycle demonstrates the shared commitment we have to the long-term sustainability of our industry,” Caroline Mead, SVP power marketing at ENGIE North America, said in the release.

Solarcyle, which repairs, refurbishes, reuses and recycles solar power systems, estimates that the collaboration and new provisions will help divert 48 million pounds of material from landfills and avoid 33,000 tons of carbon emissions.

“ENGIE’s precycling provision sets a new precedent for the utility-scale solar industry by proving that circular economy principles can be achieved without complex regulatory intervention and in a way that doesn’t require an up-front payment," Jesse Simons, co-founder and chief commercial officer at SOLARCYCLE, added in the release. "We’re happy to work creatively with leaders like ENGIE to support their commitment to circularity, domestic energy, and sustainability.”

Engie and CBRE IM have partnered on a portfolio of 31 projects in ERCOT and California-based CAISO territories. Photo via Getty Images

Engie partners on major Texas, California battery storage portfolio

power partners

Houston’s Engie North America has partnered with New York-based CBRE Investment Management on a 2.4-gigawatt portfolio of battery storage assets in Texas and California.

The portfolio consists of 31 projects operating in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) territories. According to a company statement, the transaction represents one of Engie’s largest operating portfolio partnerships in the U.S.

“We are delighted that ENGIE and CBRE IM are partnering in this industry-leading transaction, supporting 2.4 GW of storage that will support the growing demand for power in Texas and California,” Dave Carroll, Chief Renewables Officer and SVP, ENGIE North America, said in the news release.

The deal is also one of the sector’s largest sales completed to date. Engie will retain a controlling share in the portfolio and will continue to operate and manage the assets.

“The scale of this portfolio reflects ENGIE’s commitments to meeting the energy needs of the U.S. and increasing the resilience of the ERCOT and CAISO grids,” Carroll added in the news release. “CBRE IM’s investment reflects their confidence in ENGIE’s proven track record in developing, building, operating and financing renewable assets, both in North America and globally.”

In North America, ENGIE currently has more than 11 gigawatts of renewable production and battery storage in operation or construction. Last year, Engie added 4.2 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity worldwide, bringing the total capacity to 46 gigawatts as of December 31. It also recently made a preliminary deal to supply wind power to a Cipher Mining data center in Texas.

As of March 31, 2025, CBRE IM had $149.1 billion in assets under management and operated in 20 countries.

“We are excited to partner with ENGIE on this high-quality, scaled battery storage portfolio with a strong operating track record,” Robert Shaw, managing director, private infrastructure strategies at CBRE Investment Management, said in the release.

Engie will supply up to 300 megawatts of wind power to New York-based Cipher Mining, which develops and operates large data centers for cryptocurrency mining. Photo via Getty Images.

Engie signs deal to supply wind power for Texas data center

wind deal

Houston-based Engie North America, which specializes in generating low-carbon power, has sealed a preliminary deal to supply wind power to a Cipher Mining data center in Texas.

Under the tentative agreement, Cipher could buy as much as 300 megawatts of clean energy from one of Engie’s wind projects. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Cipher Mining develops and operates large data centers for cryptocurrency mining and high-performance computing.

In November, New York City-based Cipher said it bought a 250-acre site in West Texas for a data center with up to 100 megawatts of capacity. Cipher paid $4.1 million for the property.

“By pairing the data center with renewable energy, this strategic collaboration supports the use of surplus energy during periods of excess generation, while enhancing grid stability and reliability,” Engie said in a news release about the Cipher agreement.

The Engie-Cipher deal comes amid the need for more power in Texas due to several factors. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in October that data centers and cryptocurrency mining are driving up demand for power in the Lone Star State. Population growth is also putting pressure on the state’s energy supply.

Last year, Engie added 4.2 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity worldwide, bringing the total capacity to 46 gigawatts as of December 31. Also last year, Engie signed a new contract with Meta (Facebook's owner) and expanded its partnership with Google in the U.S. and Belgium.
Vestas, a Danish wind turbine company, has expanded into Houston. Photo via Getty Images.

International wind turbine manufacturer opens corporate office in Houston

new to hou

Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has set up a corporate office in Houston. The Danish company employs more than 500 people in Texas and over 5,200 people in North America.

“Houston is the ideal location to expand our office operations in the U.S. due to its central proximity to many of our wind projects, customers, and suppliers,” Laura Beane, president of Portland, Oregon-based Vestas North America, said in a news release.

One of those customers is Houston-based renewable energy company Engie North America. In 2023, Vestas announced a 270-megawatt order from Engie for 60 wind turbines. The turbines were expected to start producing energy in early 2025.

“Producing homegrown energy, powered by the hard work of Americans nationwide is critically important and we look forward to increasing our presence in Texas and continuing to provide generational jobs to Americans across the state,” Beane added.

In a statement, Houston Mayor John Whitmire welcomed Vestas to the city.

“The company's decision to establish a new corporate office underscores our city’s commitment to sustainable energy and promises to provide quality jobs and economic growth,” Whitmire said. “We are excited to support Vestas’ mission to drive innovation in renewable energy. We look forward to a prosperous partnership that benefits our community.”

Texas is the No. 1 state for wind energy capacity and energy production, representing 28% of all U.S. wind-generated electricity in 2024, according to Vestas. The company says it has installed over 3,500 wind turbines in Texas, helping supply power to nearly 7 million homes.

Steve Kean, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership, says the Vestas announcement represents “a significant and exciting development” for the Houston area.

“This decision underscores Houston’s position as a premier energy hub and desirable location for businesses, bolstered by our talent, world-class infrastructure, and a pro-business environment,” Kean said in a release.

Aside from the Oregon and Houston locations, Vestas maintains offices in Boston and Portland, Maine, and operates factories in the Colorado cities of Brighton and Windsor. Vestas services 315 wind farms in 31 states.

Vestas predicts its 2025 revenue will range from about $19 billion to $21 billion, up from about $18 billion in 2024.
The two projects are in Wharton County and Bell County and will add renewable energy to the Texas energy grid. Photo via Pexels

Packaging producer procures power purchase plan with Texas solar projects

powering on

A leading provider of sustainable fiber-based paper and packaging solutions is supporting the first of two Texas-based solar projects.

WestRock set the stage by entering into virtual power purchase agreements with Houston-based ENGIE North America. The two projects are in Wharton County and Bell County and will add renewable energy to the Texas energy grid.

Bernard Creek Solar is the first of two solar projects that are part of the VPPAs between WestRock and ENGIE, and is currently operating southwest of Houston in Wharton County. WestRock contracted 207 megawatts from the project Under the VPPA. The 230 megawatts Bernard Creek solar project is projected to produce approximately 500,000 megawatts an hour annually, which will generate over $45 million in revenue for the county and create more than 250 jobs during construction.

The WestRock VPPA for the Bernard Creek project, and the similar project located in Bell County, will add a total of 282 megawatts of renewable energy to the Texas energy grid.

"We are delighted that Bernard Creek Solar is supporting WestRock’s ambitions to meet its 2030 science-based targets,” Dave Carroll, chief renewables officer at ENGIE, says in a news release. “North AmericaENGIE’s projects are focused on meeting the specific needs of our clients as we work together to accelerate the energy transition in North America, and this agreement reflects that."

The VPPAs with WestRock have contributed to ENGIE to surpass more than 1 gigawatt of signed power purchases. ENGIE is recognized as the top developer to sell corporate energy PPAs and has ranked in the top three since 2019 with a total corporate PPA portfolio in the USA of 7.3 according to BloombergNEF's latest Market Outlook report. Schneider Electric’s Sustainability Business provided the advisory services and strategy management for these pivotal VPPAs with WestRock.

"We are pleased to play a role in the production of clean energy from large-scale solar projects and to join forces with ENGIE and Schneider Electric to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by adding more renewable energy to the grid,” David B. Sewell, president and CEO at WestRock, adds.

The Texas projects are set to come online in 2024. Photo via Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric to invest in Texas clean energy projects with IRA tax credit transfer

shining on solar

Energy management and automation company Schneider Electric is investing in a Texas portfolio of solar and battery storage systems developed, built, and operated by Houston-based ENGIE North America.

The Texas projects are set to come online in 2024. France-based Schneider says the projects will put the company closer to reaching its goal of 100 percent renewable energy in the U.S. and Canada by 2030.

The Schneider investment comes in the form of tax credit transfers enabled by the federal Inflation Reduction Act. A Schneider news release didn’t put a price tag on the investment and didn’t name the Texas projects.

Schneider explains that the federal law enables the transfer of certain federal tax credits from renewable energy, clean energy manufacturing, battery storage and other clean energy projects. These transfers are an alternative to traditional tax equity deals.

“This collaboration with Schneider signals a real step forward in accelerating the net-zero transition,” Dave Carroll, chief renewables officer and senior vice president at ENGIE North America, says in the news release.

Carroll adds that the solar-and-storage portfolio and the tax credit transfers “support the continued growth of renewable energy and storage options in the U.S., which brings economic opportunities to an expanding set of communities alongside the transition to a lower-carbon grid.”

Last month, ENGIE said it had recently wrapped up more than $1 billion in tax equity financing from banking heavyweights BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan Chase. The financing went toward 1.3 gigawatts’ worth of clean energy projects.

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The case for smarter CUI inspections in the energy sector

Guest Column

Corrosion under insulation (CUI) accounts for roughly 60% of pipeline leaks in the U.S. oil and gas sector. Yet many operators still rely on outdated inspection methods that are slow, risky, and economically unsustainable.

This year, widespread budget cuts and layoffs across the sector are forcing refineries to do more with less. Efficiency is no longer a goal; it’s a mandate. The challenge: how to maintain safety and reliability without overextending resources?

Fortunately, a new generation of technologies is gaining traction in the oil and gas industry, offering operators faster, safer, and more cost-effective ways to identify and mitigate CUI.

Hidden cost of corrosion

Corrosion is a pervasive threat, with CUI posing the greatest risk to refinery operations. Insulation conceals damage until it becomes severe, making detection difficult and ultimately leading to failure. NACE International estimates the annual cost of corrosion in the U.S. at $276 billion.

Compounding the issue is aging infrastructure: roughly half of the nation’s 2.6 million miles of pipeline are over 50 years old. Aging infrastructure increases the urgency and the cost of inspections.

So, the question is: Are we at a breaking point or an inflection point? The answer depends largely on how quickly the industry can move beyond inspection methods that no longer match today's operational or economic realities.

Legacy methods such as insulation stripping, scaffolding, and manual NDT are slow, hazardous, and offer incomplete coverage. With maintenance budgets tightening, these methods are no longer viable.

Why traditional inspection falls short

Without question, what worked 50 years ago no longer works today. Traditional inspection methods are slow, siloed, and dangerously incomplete.

Insulation removal:

  • Disruptive and expensive.
  • Labor-intensive and time-consuming, with a high risk of process upsets and insulation damage.
  • Limited coverage. Often targets a small percentage of piping, leaving large areas unchecked.
  • Health risks: Exposes workers to hazardous materials such as asbestos or fiberglass.

Rope access and scaffolding:

  • Safety hazards. Falls from height remain a leading cause of injury.
  • Restricted time and access. Weather, fatigue, and complex layouts limit coverage and effectiveness.
  • High coordination costs. Multiple contractors, complex scheduling, and oversight, which require continuous monitoring, documentation, and compliance assurance across vendors and protocols drive up costs.

Spot checks:

  • Low detection probability. Random sampling often fails to detect localized corrosion.
  • Data gaps. Paper records and inconsistent methods hinder lifecycle asset planning.
  • Reactive, not proactive: Problems are often discovered late after damage has already occurred.

A smarter way forward

While traditional NDT methods for CUI like Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) and Real-Time Radiography (RTR) remain valuable, the addition of robotic systems, sensors, and AI are transforming CUI inspection.

Robotic systems, sensors, and AI are reshaping how CUI inspections are conducted, reducing reliance on manual labor and enabling broader, data-rich asset visibility for better planning and decision-making.

ARIX Technologies, for example, introduced pipe-climbing robotic systems capable of full-coverage inspections of insulated pipes without the need for insulation removal. Venus, ARIX’s pipe-climbing robot, delivers full 360° CUI data across both vertical and horizontal pipe circuits — without magnets, scaffolding, or insulation removal. It captures high-resolution visuals and Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) data simultaneously, allowing operators to review inspection video and analyze corrosion insights in one integrated workflow. This streamlines data collection, speeds up analysis, and keeps personnel out of hazardous zones — making inspections faster, safer, and far more actionable.

These integrated technology platforms are driving measurable gains:

  • Autonomous grid scanning: Delivers structured, repeatable coverage across pipe surfaces for greater inspection consistency.
  • Integrated inspection portal: Combines PEC, RTR, and video into a unified 3D visualization, streamlining analysis across inspection teams.
  • Actionable insights: Enables more confident planning and risk forecasting through digital, shareable data—not siloed or static.

Real-world results

Petromax Refining adopted ARIX’s robotic inspection systems to modernize its CUI inspections, and its results were substantial and measurable:

  • Inspection time dropped from nine months to 39 days.
  • Costs were cut by 63% compared to traditional methods.
  • Scaffolding was minimized 99%, reducing hazardous risks and labor demands.
  • Data accuracy improved, supporting more innovative maintenance planning.

Why the time is now

Energy operators face mounting pressure from all sides: aging infrastructure, constrained budgets, rising safety risks, and growing ESG expectations.

In the U.S., downstream operators are increasingly piloting drone and crawler solutions to automate inspection rounds in refineries, tank farms, and pipelines. Over 92% of oil and gas companies report that they are investing in AI or robotic technologies or have plans to invest soon to modernize operations.

The tools are here. The data is here. Smarter inspection is no longer aspirational — it’s operational. The case has been made. Petromax and others are showing what’s possible. Smarter inspection is no longer a leap but a step forward.

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Tyler Flanagan is director of service & operations at Houston-based ARIX Technologies.


Scientists warn greenhouse gas accumulation is accelerating and more extreme weather will come

Climate Report

Humans are on track to release so much greenhouse gas in less than three years that a key threshold for limiting global warming will be nearly unavoidable, according to a study released June 19.

The report predicts that society will have emitted enough carbon dioxide by early 2028 that crossing an important long-term temperature boundary will be more likely than not. The scientists calculate that by that point there will be enough of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere to create a 50-50 chance or greater that the world will be locked in to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of long-term warming since preindustrial times. That level of gas accumulation, which comes from the burning of fuels like gasoline, oil and coal, is sooner than the same group of 60 international scientists calculated in a study last year.

“Things aren’t just getting worse. They’re getting worse faster,” said study co-author Zeke Hausfather of the tech firm Stripe and the climate monitoring group Berkeley Earth. “We’re actively moving in the wrong direction in a critical period of time that we would need to meet our most ambitious climate goals. Some reports, there’s a silver lining. I don’t think there really is one in this one.”

That 1.5 goal, first set in the 2015 Paris agreement, has been a cornerstone of international efforts to curb worsening climate change. Scientists say crossing that limit would mean worse heat waves and droughts, bigger storms and sea-level rise that could imperil small island nations. Over the last 150 years, scientists have established a direct correlation between the release of certain levels of carbon dioxide, along with other greenhouse gases like methane, and specific increases in global temperatures.

In Thursday's Indicators of Global Climate Change report, researchers calculated that society can spew only 143 billion more tons (130 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide before the 1.5 limit becomes technically inevitable. The world is producing 46 billion tons (42 billion metric tons) a year, so that inevitability should hit around February 2028 because the report is measured from the start of this year, the scientists wrote. The world now stands at about 1.24 degrees Celsius (2.23 degrees Fahrenheit) of long-term warming since preindustrial times, the report said.

Earth's energy imbalance

The report, which was published in the journal Earth System Science Data, shows that the rate of human-caused warming per decade has increased to nearly half a degree (0.27 degrees Celsius) per decade, Hausfather said. And the imbalance between the heat Earth absorbs from the sun and the amount it radiates out to space, a key climate change signal, is accelerating, the report said.

“It's quite a depressing picture unfortunately, where if you look across the indicators, we find that records are really being broken everywhere,” said lead author Piers Forster, director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds in England. “I can't conceive of a situation where we can really avoid passing 1.5 degrees of very long-term temperature change.”

The increase in emissions from fossil-fuel burning is the main driver. But reduced particle pollution, which includes soot and smog, is another factor because those particles had a cooling effect that masked even more warming from appearing, scientists said. Changes in clouds also factor in. That all shows up in Earth’s energy imbalance, which is now 25% higher than it was just a decade or so ago, Forster said.

Earth’s energy imbalance “is the most important measure of the amount of heat being trapped in the system,” Hausfather said.

Earth keeps absorbing more and more heat than it releases. “It is very clearly accelerating. It’s worrisome,” he said.

Crossing the temperature limit

The planet temporarily passed the key 1.5 limit last year. The world hit 1.52 degrees Celsius (2.74 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming since preindustrial times for an entire year in 2024, but the Paris threshold is meant to be measured over a longer period, usually considered 20 years. Still, the globe could reach that long-term threshold in the next few years even if individual years haven't consistently hit that mark, because of how the Earth's carbon cycle works.

That 1.5 is “a clear limit, a political limit for which countries have decided that beyond which the impact of climate change would be unacceptable to their societies,” said study co-author Joeri Rogelj, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.

The mark is so important because once it is crossed, many small island nations could eventually disappear because of sea level rise, and scientific evidence shows that the impacts become particularly extreme beyond that level, especially hurting poor and vulnerable populations, he said. He added that efforts to curb emissions and the impacts of climate change must continue even if the 1.5 degree threshold is exceeded.

Crossing the threshold "means increasingly more frequent and severe climate extremes of the type we are now seeing all too often in the U.S. and around the world — unprecedented heat waves, extreme hot drought, extreme rainfall events, and bigger storms,” said University of Michigan environment school dean Jonathan Overpeck, who wasn't part of the study.

Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M University climate scientist who wasn't part of the study, said the 1.5 goal was aspirational and not realistic, so people shouldn’t focus on that particular threshold.

“Missing it does not mean the end of the world,” Dessler said in an email, though he agreed that “each tenth of a degree of warming will bring increasingly worse impacts.”

Chevron enters lithium market with Texas land acquisition

to market

Chevron U.S.A., a subsidiary of Houston-based energy company Chevron, has taken its first big step toward establishing a commercial-scale lithium business.

Chevron acquired leaseholds totaling about 125,000 acres in Northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas from TerraVolta Resources and East Texas Natural Resources. The acreage contains a high amount of lithium, which Chevron plans to extract from brines produced from the subsurface.

Lithium-ion batteries are used in an array of technologies, such as smartwatches, e-bikes, pacemakers, and batteries for electric vehicles, according to Chevron. The International Energy Agency estimates lithium demand could grow more than 400 percent by 2040.

“This acquisition represents a strategic investment to support energy manufacturing and expand U.S.-based critical mineral supplies,” Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies, said in a news release. “Establishing domestic and resilient lithium supply chains is essential not only to maintaining U.S. energy leadership but also to meeting the growing demand from customers.”

Rania Yacoub, corporate business development manager at Chevron New Energies, said that amid heightening demand, lithium is “one of the world’s most sought-after natural resources.”

“Chevron is looking to help meet that demand and drive U.S. energy competitiveness by sourcing lithium domestically,” Yacoub said.