CenterPoint has committed to "the largest investment in Greater Houston infrastructure in the company's nearly 160-year history." Photo via Getty Images

CenterPoint Energy disclosed that it's completed its core resiliency actions first phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative. The company also reports that it's outlined extra upcoming efforts.

Following the unprecedented outages of Hurricane Beryl, CenterPoint outlined its GHRI in August. As of last week, the first phase, which included more than 40 critical actions in total to strengthen the electric grid, has been completed ahead of schedule.

The company also announced a second phase of GHRI and approximately $5 billion in resiliency investment from 2026 to 2028, a figure that's around twice as much as initially promised.

"We have heard the call to action from our customers and elected officials, and we are responding with bold actions," says Jason Wells, CenterPoint president and CEO, in a statement. "Our defining goal, going forward, is this: to build the most resilient coastal grid in the country that can better withstand the extreme weather of the future. To achieve this ambition, we will undertake a historic level of resiliency actions and investment, because this is what the people of the Greater Houston area expect and deserve."

According to CenterPoint, the second phase will include system hardening, strategic undergrounding, self-healing grid technology, and further enhancements to the company's outage tracker.

CenterPoint outlined its recently completed efforts, including installing over 300 automation devices and more than 1,000 stronger poles, as well as removing hazardous vegetation from more than 2,000 miles of power lines. Next up, CenterPoint says it's near-term actions will include further grid strengthening, public communication improvements, and enhancements to local, community, and emergency partnerships. The details of this phase, which will take place between September 1 to June 1, will be released by September 30.

In the company's longer-term action plan, CenterPoint commits to $5 billion in upgrades from 2026 to 2028 — "the largest investment in Greater Houston infrastructure in the company's nearly 160-year history."

"The mission of this longer-term plan of action is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the country by investing in a smarter grid of the future that can better withstand a broad spectrum of risks," reads the statement. "The proposal, and the entire scope of these actions will be outlined in a new system resiliency plan that is expected to be filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas on or before January 31, 2025."

CenterPoint reports that lawmakers have received this information directly, and that the plan will be shaped by feedback from its customers, experts, and stakeholders, including elected officials and local agencies.

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Houston energy startups, leaders named finalists for 2025 Innovation Awards

Meet the Innovators

InnovationMap.com, EnergyCaptialHTX's sister website, has revealed the finalists for the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards, and the local energy sector — from startups to leaders and accelerators — is well-represented throughout the awards.

Taking place on November 13 at Greentown Labs, the fifth annual Houston Innovation Awards will honor the best of Houston's innovation ecosystem, including startups, entrepreneurs, mentors, and more.

This year's finalists were determined by our esteemed panel of judges, comprised of past award winners and InnovationMap editorial leadership.

The panel reviewed nominee applications across 10 prestigious categories to determine the finalists. They will select the winner for each category, except for Startup of the Year, which will be chosen by the public via online voting launching later this month.

The Trailblazer Award recipient will be announced in the coming weeks, and the rest of this year's winners will be unveiled live at the annual awards ceremony and event on November 13 at Greentown Labs.

Tickets are on sale now — including a limited number of corporate 10-packs — secure yours today.

Without further ado, here are the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards finalists:

Minority-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation:

  • Capwell Services
  • Deep Anchor Solutions
  • Mars Materials
  • Torres Orbital Mining (TOM)
  • Wellysis USA

Female-founded Business

Honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman:

  • Anning Corporation
  • Bairitone Health
  • Brain Haven
  • FlowCare
  • March Biosciences
  • TrialClinIQ

Energy Transition Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy and beyond:

  • Anning Corporation
  • Capwell Services
  • Deep Anchor Solutions
  • Eclipse Energy
  • Loop Bioproducts
  • Mars Materials
  • Solidec

Health Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors:

  • Bairitone Health
  • Corveus Medical
  • FibroBiologics
  • Koda Health
  • NanoEar
  • Wellysis USA

Deep Tech Business

Honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics and space sectors:

  • ARIX Technologies
  • Little Place Labs
  • Newfound Materials
  • Paladin Drones
  • Persona AI
  • Tempest Droneworx

Startup of the Year (People's Choice)

Honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an online voting experience:

  • Eclipse Energy
  • FlowCare
  • MyoStep
  • Persona AI
  • Rheom Materials
  • Solidec

Scaleup of the Year

Honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth:

  • Coya Therapeutics
  • Fervo Energy
  • Koda Health
  • Mati Carbon
  • Molecule
  • Utility Global

Incubator/Accelerator of the Year

Honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups:

  • Activate
  • Energy Tech Nexus
  • Greentown Labs
  • Healthtech Accelerator (TMCi)
  • Impact Hub Houston

Mentor of the Year

Honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs. Presented by Houston Community College:

  • Anil Shetty, Inform AI
  • Jason Ethier, EnergyTech Nexus
  • Jeremy Pitts, Activate
  • Joe Alapat, Liongard
  • Neal Dikeman, Energy Transition Ventures
  • Nisha Desai, Intention

Trailblazer Recipient

  • To be announced
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Interested in sponsoring the 2025 Houston Innovation Awards? Contact sales@innovationmap.com for details.

Austin energy startup Base Power opens Katy office & expands Houston service

power move

An Austin startup that pairs electricity with backup power has started doing business in Houston.

Base Power announced this spring that it was entering the Houston market, with an initial focus on Cy-Fair, Spring, Cinco Ranch and Mission Bend. Now, Base Power is offering its service to households within the city of Houston.

To support its growth in the Houston area, Base Power has opened an office and warehouse in Katy. More than 30 people now work there. Plans to expand the Katy location are underway.

Base Power provides electricity that’s complemented by home backup power. Homes don’t need to be using solar power to sign up for Base Power’s service.

The startup said its service automatically supplies power to a home when the electric grid fails.

“Unlike traditional backup systems with high upfront costs, Base earns revenue by providing services to the grid — enabling Houstonians to get reliable backup and real savings,” Base Power said.

In addition to its standard service, Base Power has begun offering technology known as the Generator Recharge Port. This component allows a portable generator to plug into the Base battery system to recharge batteries during extended power outages.

“Houston has long been the energy capital of Texas, yet it has also endured some of the nation’s most painful lessons about unreliable power,” said Zach Dell, co-founder and CEO of Base Power. “We see Houston not just as a place to expand, but as a proving ground for how the future of energy should work — resilient, dependable, and built to serve homeowners when it matters most.”

Dell is the only son of Austin tech billionaire Michael Dell, a Houston native.

Base Power’s expansion in Houston adds to its Texas presence. The company now serves homeowners in the Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin areas. A partnership with homebuilder Lennar and collaborations with two utilities, GVEC and the Bandera Electric Cooperative, are helping drive Base Power’s business.

Base Power has raised more than $270 million in funding since its founding in 2023. This includes a $200 million series B round that will help finance construction of the company’s first factory in Texas and help fuel Base Power’s national expansion.

The startup’s investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital, Altimeter, Terrain and Trust.

Houston hub for clean energy startups names global founding partners

green team

EnergyTech Nexus, a Houston-based hub for clean energy startups, announced its coalition of Global Founding Partners last month at its Pilotathon event during Houston Energy and Climate Week.

The group of international companies will contribute financial and technical resources, as well as share their expertise with startup founders, according to a news release from EnergyTech Nexus.

“Our Global Founding Partners represent the highest standards of industrial leadership, technical expertise and commitment to innovation,” Juliana Garaizar, co-founding partner of EnergyTech Nexus, added in the release. “Their collaboration enables us to connect groundbreaking technologies with the resources, infrastructure, and markets needed to achieve global scale.”

Houston-based partners include:

  • Cemvita Inc.
  • Chevron Technology Ventures
  • Collide
  • Greentown Labs
  • Kauel
  • Oxy Technology Ventures
  • Revterra
  • Sunipro

“At Collide, we believe progress happens when the right people, data, and ideas come together. Partnering with EnergyTech Nexus allows us to support innovators with the insights and community they need to accelerate deployment at scale,” Collin McLelland, co-founder and CEO of Collide, a provider of generative artificial intelligence for the energy sector, said in the release.

"Revterra is thrilled to be a founding member of the EnergyTech Nexus community," Ben Jawdat, founder and CEO of kinetic battery technology company Revterra, added. "Building a strong network of collaborators, customers, and investors is critical for any startup — particularly when you're building novel hardware. The Energytech Nexus community has been incredible at bringing all of the right stakeholders together."

Other partners, many of which have a strong presence in Houston, include:

  • BBVA
  • EarthX
  • Endress+Hauser
  • Goodwin
  • Greenbackers Investment Capital
  • ISR Energy
  • Latham & Watkins LLP
  • Ormazabal
  • Repsol
  • STX Next
  • XGS Energy

Jason Ethier, co-founding partner of EnergyTech Nexus, said that partnerships with these companies will be "pivotal" in supporting the organization's community of founders and Houston's broader energy transition sector.

“The Energy and Climate industry deploys over $1.5 trillion in capital every year to meet our growing energy demands. Our global founding partners recognize that this energy must be delivered reliably, cost effectively, and sustainably, and have committed to ensuring that technology developed without our ecosystem can find a path to market through testing and piloting in real-world conditions," Ethier said. "The ecosystem they support here solidifies Houston as the global nexus for the energy transition.”

EnergyTech Nexus also recently announced a "strategic ecosystem partnership" with Greentown Labs, aimed at accelerating growth for clean energy startups. Read more here.