Energy leaders across Houston provide a global perspective

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Leaders across Houston shared their thoughts on the Future of Global Energy today. Image courtesy of HETI.

Just over one month ago, a major Houston drilling executive challenged the energy industry to embrace partnering to attain the sustainability goals of the energy transition. The sentiment echoed across multiple sessions held throughout Houston and broadcast virtually at today’s Future of Global Energy Conference presented by Chevron.

Read on for key statements made by leaders across the city at Day 2 of this three-part event, hosted by the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), and Center for Houston’s Future.

SESSION 1: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EQUITY

“My work over the past 20 years… has allowed me to connect with communities that live in the shadows of large industrial facilities,” says John Hall, CEO of Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC).

“If energy companies, and the rest of the business sector, and government could come together… we have the opportunity, if we work innovatively and creatively to mesh all of those resources together, through a process of deliberate and thoughtful conversations, and engagement with some of the most disadvantaged communities in this state–we have the opportunity, without having to spend extra money, but through cooperative collaboration and solution building… not only achieve corporate goals, but uplift these communities.“

SESSION 2: BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE TRANSITION

“We have to educate younger people that are coming into the workforce where the jobs are, and where the where the jobs are going to be in the next 10-15 years,” declares Tim Tarpley, president of the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. “We do not have enough young people coming into the energy space to [back]fill the folks that are retiring. And that’s a big problem.”

Tarpley continues, “Younger people don’t always feel like there’s going to be opportunities in this industry going forward. That couldn’t be further from the truth. There is tremendous opportunity.”

SESSION 3: INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY FOR THE ENERGY TRANSITION

“Being able to take technology from lab development to commercialization, crossing that barrier of risk–we have to do that as an industry and as a society,” explains Billy Bardin, Global Climate Transition Director, Dow Inc.

“Houston has a leading role to play in that, given the deployed assets, the expertise, the workforce development plans we heard about in the previous session with our academic partners. This portfolio of capabilities is ultimately required. At Dow, we talk about a decarbonizing growth strategy – where we want to decarbonize our assets but at the same time make safer, more sustainable materials that our customers need.”

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“Partnerships are critical with earlier stage startups, but also partnerships on deployment are critical. When thinking about scaling up, and the challenges of scaling up, it’s really hard to find one company that can do it all,” says Jim Gable, President, Chevron Technology Ventures. “Every solution has to fit within the rest of the system. It’s not just one breakthrough that’s going to resolve the world’s challenges related to decarbonization or lowering our carbon footprint.”

SESSION 4: FUNDING THE ENERGY TRANSITION

“One of the vexing issues is the demand side of the equation,” posits Kassia Yanosek, Partner, McKinsey & Company. “We are in a different world today, where we have to think, ‘How do we scale new molecules?’ Green LNG, hydrogen and ammonia made from green hydrogen or blue hydrogen–we don’t have a deep market for those types of molecules. The challenge we are facing today, in addition to the supports on the supply side, is creating a market and demand for these molecules that cost more but also have a greener content.”

The convergence of green banking with evergreen experimentation in support of a growing green economy sounds like just the right shade of green. Photo by micheile henderson/Unsplash

Green banking meets evergreen R&D with recent MOU

MONEY + MATTER

The term “Energy Transition” doesn’t merely imply change, it demands it. And with change comes another kind of change–usually of the dollars and cents kind.

While many aspire to embrace more sustainable and cleaner energy solutions in their communities, the affluence needed to deploy necessary infrastructure often sits just outside of reach. Until now, that is.

With the rise of “green banking,” securing financing for the adoption of energy efficiency, implementation of decarbonization technologies, and broader provision of renewable energy is now more accessible. Funds at green banks, backed by a blend of public and philanthropic contributions, tap into the modern trend of crowdfunding to support egalitarian and climate improvement efforts.

However, green bank financing is structured with repayment of–or a return on–capital expected at the end of the term, meaning approval tends only to be granted to proven and established projects well past the research and development stage. Given the Energy Transition is, for the most part, still in its infancy, clearing such hurdles can be difficult.

But Houston is full of dreamers and doers; researchers and entrepreneurs eager to tackle the next big challenge. It would come as no surprise then, that Texas’ first green bank, the Clean Energy Fund of Texas (“CEFTx”), bucks tradition with a novel Memorandum Of Understanding (“MOU”) co-signed by the Houston Advanced Research Center (“HARC”) to finance efforts staunchly entrenched in R&D activity.

As the Energy Transition foothold grows, Houstonians are compelled not just to invest in green initiatives, but to drive them. Which only makes sense, considering the deep expertise in energy innovation led most recently by the Houston-area shale revolutionaries from Mitchell Energy. Established over 40 years ago by George P. Mitchell himself, HARC plants the seeds of transformation at the intersection of science, resilience, sustainability, and the environment.

Per the March 29 news release from CEFTx, John Hall, President & CEO of HARC says, “We are excited to join forces with the team at Clean Energy Fund of Texas as they drive green investment in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Our research expertise and experience in managing state and federal grants will be a true benefit to Texans.”

The recent MOU brings Energy Transition visionaries the capital necessary to explore, test, develop, and deploy innovative solutions from conception to maturity. Entrepreneurs at all stages of the business lifecycle are encouraged to apply for funding on the CEFTx website or connect with HARC at an upcoming event to discover how the two entities can take ideas from dream to reality.

“It’s an honor to work with the esteemed researchers at HARC, who have been studying sustainability for decades,” says Stephen Brown of CEFTx in the release. “Together we can be even more effective at kickstarting investments in solar power, retrofits, and other technologies that help create the green workforce of tomorrow.”

The fresh approach to funding set up by CEFTx and HARC positions new companies to succeed and enables existing companies to progress in the transition to a more sustainable #futureofenergy. It’s just the sort of sense that is needed to truly drive change.

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Two Texas coalitions part of $7B solar power federal grant program

shine on

The Biden administration delivered an Earth Day gift with the news that 60 grantees will receive $7 billion in grant awards.

Texas Solar For All Coalition and Clean Energy Fund of Texas were two of the 60 recipients of the Solar for All grant competition. The awardees will provide solar energy to 900,000 low-income households in all 50 states. This is expected to generate an estimated 200,000 jobs as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which includes $405,820,000 in Texas.

“President Biden’s clean energy plan is creating good-paying jobs, reducing emissions, and saving Americans money on their utility bills,” Climate Power Interim States Managing Director André Crombie says in a news release. “Thanks to President Biden, low-income families across Texas will have access to cleaner, cheaper power.”

The Solar for All Program, which was started by the Biden-Harris administration, aims to reduce carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by 30 million metric tons over five years, and hopes to improve grid reliability and climate resilience. The award is also part of the Justice40 initiative that aims to ensure that historically underserved communities are given resources to help fight pollution and climate change.

Led by Harris County, Texas SFA is a coalition of Texas counties and cities (Dallas County, Tarrant County, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and Waco) that serve over 11 million low-income Texans.

“HARC is proud to be part of the Texas Solar for All Coalition and grateful for the significant support received from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help bring the benefits of clean solar power to low-income and disadvantaged communities across Texas," John Hall, HARC’s President and CEO, says in a news release. "Low-income Texans find themselves facing rising energy bills, energy insecurity, and disconnection from the electric grid due to their limited incomes and health-compromising conditions during increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

"Through this Coalition’s delivery of distributed solar, we will be able to provide much-needed locally generated electricity, substantially reduced emissions, and improve the lives of many Texans."

Texas SFA will support home solar panel installation, support workforce training for residents, and battery storage upgrades. The Clean Energy Fund of Texas partnered with Texas Southern University to support clean energy investments at HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions in 19 states.

According to a news release, at least 35 percent of grant awardees have engaged local or national labor unions for the estimated 200,000 jobs that will be created.

UH researchers contribute to promising energy storage technology

deluxe capacitor

Storage is a major part of the energy system that's ripe for innovation and disruption — and a research team based partly out of the University of Houston has made a remarkable milestone in capacitor technology.

Researchers from the University of Houston, Jackson State University, and Howard University have created a new type of flexible high-energy-density capacitor, a device that stores energy. For now, the prototype is just 1-inch by 1-inch, but a larger version of the technology can highly impact industries that rely on energy storage or batteries.

The research team explained their project in a paper titled “Ultrahigh Capacitive Energy Density in Stratified 2D Nanofiller-Based Polymer Dielectric Films” published in the journal ACS Nano.

“High-energy and high-power capacitors are essential for a reliable power supply, especially as we shift to using more renewable energy sources," Alamgir Karim, Dow Chair and Welch Foundation Professor of Chemical Engineering at UH and faculty mentor on the team, says in a UH news release. "However, current dielectric capacitors don't store as much energy as other types of energy storage devices such as batteries. The higher power density of capacitors makes them more attractive for a multitude of applications as compared to batteries."

The unique design of the capacitor includes layering polymers with oriented 2D nanofillers — which create a material that's thinner than human hair. The design featured an improved energy storage performance with higher energy density and efficiency than existing technologies.

"Our work demonstrates the development of high energy and high-power density capacitors by blocking electrical breakdown pathways in polymeric materials using the oriented 2D nanofillers," adds Maninderjeet Singh, who earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at UH last year and is the first author on the paper along with Priyanka Das from Jackson State University. "We achieved an ultra-high energy density of approximately 75 J/cm³, the highest reported for a polymeric dielectric capacitor to date."

Once scaled, the technology has the potential to enhance energy storage in electronics, electric vehicles, power systems, and more.

Billionaire Texas oilman inks deal with Venezuela's state-run oil giant as U.S. sanctions loom

dealmaker

A company started by a Texas billionaire oilman announced a deal Wednesday with Venezuela's state-owned oil company to rehabilitate five aging oil fields, days after the Biden administration put a brake on sanctions relief over concerns about the fairness of the country's upcoming presidential election.

LNG Energy Group is a publicly traded company listed in Canada that produces natural gas in Colombia. It was created last year as a result of a merger with a company owned by Rod Lewis, a legendary Texas wildcatter who Forbes Magazine once called the “only gringo allowed to drill in Mexico."

As part of the deal announced Wednesday, LNG was awarded contracts by state-run PDVSA to take over production and develop two oil fields in eastern Venezuela that currently produce about 3,000 barrels of crude per day.

LNG said the deal was executed within the framework of sanctions relief announced by the U.S. government last year in support of an agreement between President Nicolas Maduro and his opponents to hold a competitive presidential election this year. Last week, the Biden administration reimposed sanctions as hopes for a democratic opening in Venezuela fade.

However, the White House left open the possibility for companies to apply for licenses exempting them from the restrictions, something that could attract investment to a country sitting atop the world's largest petroleum reserves at a time of growing concerns about energy supplies in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Other than Chevron, which has operated in Venezuela for a century and was awarded its own license in 2022, few American companies have been looking to make major capital investments in the high risk South American country in recent years because of concerns about government seizure, U.S. sanctions and corruption.

“This will be a test of U.S. sanctions whether they get a license or not,” said Francisco Monaldi, an expert on Latin American energy policy at Rice University's Baker Institute.

LNG said in a statement that it “intends to operate in full compliance with the applicable sanctions" but declined further comment

Lewis, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $1.1 billion, struck it rich in the 1980s as a wildcatter drilling for natural gas near his home in Laredo, Texas. His company, Lewis Energy Group, was the state's fourth biggest natural gas producer last year.

In 2004, Lewis was awarded a contract by Mexico's tightly controlled energy industry covering almost 100,000 acres (400 square kilometers) just across the border from his south Texas facility. He started investing in Colombia in 2003.

In October, the U.S. granted Maduro’s government relief from sanctions on its state-run oil, gas and mining sectors after it agreed to work with members of the opposition to hold a free and competitive presidential election this year.

While Maduro went on to schedule an election for July and invite international observers to monitor voting, his inner circle has used the ruling party’s total control over Venezuela’s institutions to undermine the agreement. Actions include blocking his main rival, ex lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, from registering her candidacy or that of a designated alternative. Numerous government critics have also been jailed over the past six months, including several of Machado’s aides.

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Energy leaders across Houston provide a global perspective​