8+ can't-miss events at Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week 2025

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Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns Sept. 15-19. Photo via rice.edu

Editor's note: This article may be updated to include additional events.

The second annual Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week is less than a month away—and the calendar of events is taking shape.

The series of panels, happy hours and pitch days will take place Sept. 15-19. The Ion District will host many of the week's events.

Here are the details on some of the can't-miss events of the week:

Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week Kickoff Panel and Block Party

Join fellow innovators, founders, investors and energy leaders at this kick-off event hosted by The Ion and HETI, which will feature brief welcome remarks, a panel discussion and networking, followed by a block party on the Ion Plaza.

This event is Monday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m. at The Ion. Register here.

Energytech Nexus Pilotathon

Grab breakfast and take in keynotes and panels by leaders from New Climate Ventures, V1 Climate, Halliburton, Energy Tech Nexus and many others. Then hear pitches during the Pilotathon, which targets startups ready to implement pilot projects within six to 12 months.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 16, from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at GreenStreet. Get tickets here.

Meet the Activate Houston Cohort 2025 Fellows

Meet Activate's latest cohort, which was named this summer, and also learn more about its 2024 group.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 5 p.m. at the Ion. Register here.

New Climate Ventures Afterparty

Enjoy music, networking and carbon-negative spirits at Axelrad. Houston startups Quaise Energy, Solidec, Dimensional Energy, Rheom Materials, and Active Surfaces will also be on-site.

This event is Tuesday, Sept. 16, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at Axelrad. Register here.

Green ICU Conference: Sustainability in Health Care for a Healthier Future

Houston Methodist will host its inaugural Green ICU Conference during Houston Energy & Climate Week. The conference is designed to bring together healthcare professionals, industry leaders, policymakers and innovators to explore solutions for building a more sustainable healthcare system.

This event is Wednesday, Sept. 17. from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at TMC Helix Park. Register here.

Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum

Hear from clean energy startups from nine countries and 19 states at the 22nd annual Energy Tech Venture Forum. The 12 companies that were named to Class 5 of the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator will present during Demo Day to wrap up their 10-week program. Apart from pitches, this event will also host keynotes from Arjun Murti, partner of energy macro and policy at Veriten, and Susan Schofer, partner at HAX and chief science officer at SOSV. Panels will focus on corporate innovation and institutional venture capital.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 18, from 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. Register here.

Shell STCH Open House

Get a behind-the-scenes look at how Shell is leveraging open innovation to scale climate tech. The open house will spotlight two Houston-based startups—Mars Materials, which converts captured CO2 into acrylonitrile, and DexMat, which transforms methane into high-performance carbon nanotube fibers.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 18, from 8:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. at Shell Technology Center. Register here.

ACCEL Year 3 Showcase

Celebrate Advancing Climatetech and Clean Energy Leaders Program, or ACCEL, an accelerator program for startups led by BIPOC and other underrepresented founders from Greentown Labs and Browning the Green Space. Two Houston companies and one from Austin are among the eight startups to be named to the 2025 group. Hear startup pitches from the cohort, and from Greentown's Head of Houston, Lawson Gow, CEO Georgina Campbell Flatter and others.

This event is Thursday, Sept. 18, from 5-8 p.m. at Greentown Labs. Get tickets here.

Halliburton Labs Finalists Pitch Day

Hear from Halliburton Labs' latest cohort of entrepreneurs. The incubator aims to advance the companies’ commercialization with support from Halliburton's network, facilities and financing opportunities. Its latest cohort includes one company from Texas.

This event is Friday, Sept. 19, from 8 a.m.-noon at The Ion. Register here.

Chevron Energy Innovation Finals

The University of Houston will present the 4th Annual Chevron Innovation Commercialization Competition.

The event is Friday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the University of Houston. Register here.

Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week was founded in 2024 by Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Halliburton Labs, Greentown Labs, Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), Digital Wildcatters and Activate.

Last year, Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week welcomed more than 2,000 attendees, investors and industry leaders to more than 30 events. It featured more than 100 speakers and showcased more than 125 startups.

From Your Site Articles

Oxy, Fathom Fund, and Activate have new offices inside the Ion. Photo courtesy of the Ion

Oxy, other hardtech-focused organizations take up leases in Houston innovation hub

moving in

The Ion in Midtown has some new tenants taking up residence in its 90 percent-leased building.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Fathom Fund, and Activate are the latest additions to the Ion, according to a news release from Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company, which own and operate the 16-acre Ion District where the Ion is located. With the additions, the building has just 10 percent left up for grabs.

“As the Ion continues to attract leading companies and organizations across industries, it’s clear that our vision of creating a dynamic and collaborative environment for innovation is resonating,” Ken Jett, president of the Rice Real Estate Company and vice president of facilities and capital planning at Rice, says in the release. “We are proud to set the standard for how the workplace can evolve to foster the commercialization and growth of transformative technologies that enhance quality of life in our community and beyond.”

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion last year, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor. The build out process is slated to be completed by early 2025.

While Oxy represents the corporate side of innovation, the other two additions have their own roles in the innovation arena. Houston-based Fathom Fund, which launched its $100 million fund earlier this year, is targeting deep-tech venture opportunities and is led by Managing Partners Paul Sheng and Eric Bielke.

Founded in Berkeley, California, Activate, which announced its expansion into Houston in 2023, has officially named its local office in the Ion. The hardtech-focused incubator program recently named its inaugural cohort and opened applications for the 2025 program.

Other recent joiners to the Ion includes Kongsberg Digital, Artemis Energy Partners, CES Renewables, and Eleox.

“The partnerships we’ve forged are vital to shaping the Ion into a vibrant ecosystem for startups, where collaborative innovation is not only driving local economic growth but also positioning Houston as a global leader in the energy transition,” Paul Cherukuri, chief innovation officer at Rice University, says. “With our team leading the programming and activation across the Ion district, we are creating companies that harness cutting-edge technology for the benefit of society—advancing solutions that contribute to social good while addressing the most pressing challenges of our time. This powerful network is redefining Houston’s role in the future of energy, technology, and social impact.”

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Major Oxy announcement, new AI platform, and more Houston energy headlines

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Editor's note: The top Houston energy headlines for the first half of May include the rollout of a new AI platform and a big announcement from Oxy. Plus, a nuclear reactor company opens a Houston office and a local battery recycling company secures millions in financing. Here are the most-read EnergyCapitalHTX stories published May 1-14, 2026:

1. Houston AI startup rolls out platform to reshape oil and gas workflows

Houston-based Collide is looking to solve AI issues in the energy industry from within. Co-founded by former oil roughneck Collin McLelland, the company has developed AI software for operators and field teams, shaped by firsthand oilfield experience. Its AI-native platform “retrieves and synthesizes data from authoritative sources to deliver accurate, cited, and energy-focused insights to oil and gas professionals,” it says. Continue reading.

2. Houston battery recycling company secures $32M in financing

Houston-based Ace Green Recycling has raised $32 million in private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing to support its future plans for growth. The battery recycling technology company secured the financing with Athena Technology Acquisition Corp. II, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company that Ace previously announced it plans to merge with. Once the merger is completed, Ace will become a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "AGXI." Ace says the financing will be used to complete the merger and scale the company. Continue reading.

3. Modular nuclear reactor company opens office in Houston

The nuclear energy renaissance continues in Texas with an announcement by NuScale Power. The Oregon-based provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology announced in April it would be opening office space in Houston’s CityCentre. “Opening this space in Houston underscores our commitment to meeting rising energy demand with safe, scalable nuclear technology,” John Hopkins, NuScale president and CEO, said. Continue reading.

4. Oxy officially announces CEO transition, names successor

Houston-based Occidental (Oxy) has officially announced its longtime CEO's retirement and her successor. Oxy shared that Vicki Hollub will retire June 1. Reuters first reported Hollub's plan to retire in March, but a firm date had not been set. Hollub will remain on Oxy's board of directors. Richard Jackson, who currently serves as Oxy's COO, will replace Hollub in the CEO role. Continue reading.

5. Texas data center proposed by U.S. Army could use more power than El Paso

The U.S. Army is proposing developing a gargantuan, 3-gigawatt data center complex on Fort Bliss property that within a few years would consume more electricity than all of El Paso Electric’s 460,000 customers combined – even as questions about its development, water usage and air pollution remain unanswered. If built, it would be the third major data center project in the El Paso region, along with Meta Platform’s $10 billion facility in Northeast and the $165 billion Project Jupiter campus that Oracle and OpenAI are building in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The combined scale and size of the three facilities could quickly transform the Borderland into one of the nation’s core hubs of power generation and AI infrastructure. Continue reading.

Houston startup lands $1B from Blackstone and Halliburton, plans acquisition

power deal

Houston-based power generation startup VoltaGrid has nailed down a $1 billion equity investment from asset management heavyweight Blackstone and Houston-based oilfield services provider Halliburton.

The investment comes in two forms:

A $775 million primary capital raise
A $225 million secondary capital purchase from existing investors

VoltaGrid, founded in 2020, provides behind-the-meter mobile power generation equipment for data centers, microgrids and industrial customers.

Aside from the $1 billion investment, VoltaGrid has agreed to buy Propell Energy Technology, a VoltaGrid supplier, for an undisclosed amount. Propell offers a natural gas power generation platform for AI data centers. VoltaGrid plans to add two manufacturing plants at Propell’s facilities in Granbury, a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb.

The investment and acquisition deals are expected to close in mid-2026.

Funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities are contributing to the $1 billion investment. William Nicholson, managing director of Blackstone, called VoltaGrid “a highly differentiated platform addressing one of the most important infrastructure needs of the AI era: reliable, rapidly deployable power. This investment is a strong example of Tac Opps’ focus on providing flexible, scaled capital to exceptional entrepreneurs and businesses operating in Blackstone’s highest-conviction investment themes.”

Nathan Ough, founder and CEO of VoltaGrid, said in a release that the Blackstone investment “is a powerful endorsement of the platform we have built and the role VoltaGrid is playing in delivering the energy infrastructure of the AI era.”

Last October, VoltaGrid and Halliburton said they had forged a partnership to supply power for data centers around the world, with the Middle East picked as the initial target. Two months later, the companies said they had arranged the manufacturing of 400 megawatts of natural gas power systems that’ll be delivered in 2028 to support new data centers in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Jeff Miller, president and CEO of Halliburton, said his company’s investment in VoltaGrid “reflects our shared focus on long-term solutions for the world’s most demanding power environments, and advances VoltaGrid’s ability to deliver reliable, distributed power at scale.”

Report shows geoscientists earn largest salary premium in Texas

Career Day

A move to Texas bolsters earnings for some, and a new SmartAsset study has revealed the top professions where the median annual earnings in the Lone Star State exceed the national median.

The report, "When it Pays to Work in Texas — and When It Doesn’t," published in April, analyzed over 700 occupations to determine which have the biggest "Texas premium" — meaning jobs where the price-adjusted median annual pay in Texas most exceeds the national median for the same occupation — and which jobs have the biggest “Texas penalty,” where the statewide median annual pay falls furthest below the national median. Salaries were sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and adjusted for regional price parity.

According to the report's findings, geoscientists have the biggest "Texas premium" and make a $159,903 median annual salary. Texas' salary for geoscientists is 61 percent higher than the national median for the same position (after adjusting for regional price parity).

"Texas’s large petroleum industry helps explain why employers in the state retain so many geoscientists," the report's author wrote. "In fact, the Lone Star State is home to more geoscientists than any other state except California."

There are more than 3,600 geoscientists working in Texas, SmartAsset said.

These are the remaining top 10 occupations with the biggest "Texas premiums" (salaries are price-adjusted):

No. 2 – Commercial pilots: $167,727 median Texas earnings; 37 percent higher than the national median
No. 3 – Sailors: $67,614 median Texas earnings; 36 percent higher than the national median
No. 4 – Aircraft structure assemblers: $83,519 median Texas earnings; 35 percent higher than the national median
No. 5 – Ship captains: $108,905 median Texas earnings; 27 percent higher than the national median
No. 6 – Nursing instructors (postsecondary): $100,484 median Texas earnings; 26 percent higher than the national median
No. 7 – Tax preparers: $63,321 median Texas earnings; 25 percent higher than the national median
No. 8 – Chemists: $104,241 median Texas earnings; 24 percent higher than the national median
No. 9 – Health instructors (postsecondary): $128,680 median Texas earnings; 22 percent higher than the national median
No. 10 – Engineering instructors (postsecondary): $129,030 median Texas earnings; 22 percent higher than the national median

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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