What is it going to take to make Houston a leader in the energy transition? Access to capital, according to a panel from Venture Houston. Photo by Natalie Harms/EnergyCapital

Last week, Tim Latimer sat on a panel that consisted mostly of his company's investors and discussed what he felt the missing piece still was for Houston's energy transition and innovation community.

“There’s no better place in the world than Houston to build and scale a climate tech startup," he says on a Venture Houston panel titled Seeding Sustainability: Unlocking the Power of Early Stage Investments.

“But I don’t know if I’m ready to make the claim that we’re the best place to start a business,” he adds.

Latimer, who co-founded Fervo Energy in the Bay Area in 2017 before relocating the company to Houston, explains that his company raised capital on the West Coast ahead of moving to Texas to grow and scale. This allowed the company, which recently announced the success of a major pilot, to tap into early stage funding and then make the most of every dollar raised by moving to a region where the money would last longer — and where there's talent, customers, and more.

“The dream for us to have a truly unlocked ecosystem is that the whole pattern can happen here in Houston, and the gap I see is that capital formation side,” he says.

Latimer was joined on the panel by some of Fervo's investors: Mark Cupta, managing partner of Prelude Ventures; Andrea Course, venture principal of Shell Ventures; and Joshua Posamentier, co-founder and managing partner of Congruent Ventures.

Each of the panelists weighed in on what it would take for Houston to emerge as a leader within the global energy transition. Cupta says that it's going to take the city time to build out activity, successful outcomes, talent, money, and more.

“The venture capital community is an ecosystem, and that ecosystem consists of multiple stakeholders that all have to work in concert with each other," he says. "It has to be a flywheel that spins up over time.”

Course, the only Houston-based investor on the panel, says that Houston has potential because it's got talent, industry, and money, or TIM, as she describes.

“I think Houston is actually the perfect place for becoming the energy transition capital. If you ask me, I think we already are.” Course explains. “It really just takes people doing what we’re doing now to make it even greater."

Posamentier, who previously shared his outlook on Houston in a Q&A with EnergyCapital, explains that access to funding isn't the only issue. “There’s a lot more money than there are investable opportunities at the moment,” he says.

The panel also weighed in on the difference between venture capital and funding coming out of corporations.

“VCs and CVCs have different timelines,” Course explains, saying VC firms have 5- to 7-year life cycles. After that, they need to see an exit to be able to provide that return. “With a CVC, we don’t really have that. Of course we want to show financial returns, but we are long-duration capital.

CVC is patient capital with value-add investors, but Course admits there's a longer due diligence because she wants to find a strategic stakeholder before an investment is made.

“The worst thing that could happen is that Shell gives you money, but they don’t give you business. We don’t want that,” she says.

Waiting for that right investor can be extremely important to company success, Latimer says from the founder perspective.

“It’s hard to put a hard dollar value on help, but our ability to have advisers and introductions from different types of investors … makes all the difference in the world,” he says on the panel. “A lot of startup founders think about their org design very critically and who they want to bring onto the team, and you should be deliberate on your cap table.”

Venture Houston returns this year — this time focused on the digitization of decarbonization. Photo courtesy of Venture Houston

Annual Houston conference to target topics on digitalization of decarbonization

thought leadership

An event that brings top venture capitalists to Houston returns for its third year — and this time the topic of conversation is the energy transition.

Venture Houston, taking place on September 7, is presented by HX Venture Fund, a fund of funds that deploys capital into non-Houston firms to encourage investment in local startups. This year's theme is "Spotlighting the path for decarbonization in a digital world," and Sandy Guitar, managing partner at HXVF, tells EnergyCapital that while that might sound like a narrow topic, attendees will see at the event how broad a theme it really is.

"We're calling it digitalization to decarbonization in order to help identify the fact that decarbonization is just a market that you sell into — the technologies are very broadly defined," Guitar says. "Underneath that, the decarbonization market happens to involve everything that is better, cheaper, and faster."

The event, which has its ticket registration open now, has a full agenda with several keynote addresses and panels featuring venture leaders, CEOs, startup founders, and more from Houston and beyond. There will also be networking breaks and other activations, including a breakfast presented by DivInc and Capital Connect on September 6. This event features curated collisions for a select VCs and founders.

The conference's first panel, "Seeding Sustainability: Unlocking the Power of Early Stage Investments," includes Josh Posamentier, co-founder and managing partner of Congruent Ventures, who will share the stage with the founder of one of his firm's portfolio companies, Tim Latimer of Fervo Energy, among others.

To Posamentier, one of the things he hopes attendees takes away is how timely decarbonization is — especially in Houston.

"If I had one ask, it would be that people, especially for this audience, double down and mobilize more toward alternative energy," he tells EnergyCapital. "Take all the learnings, all the skills that come from conventional energy and repurpose them. I think there's it's a bigger market — more is being spent on renewables now than on oil and gas development and, you've got got a good 50 years of insane growth ahead."

And, as Guitar adds, the energy transition is not something that only affects the companies building the technology or working within the energy industry.

"I do think it's important to see the decarbonization not as a hard tech event, but as everything that touches carbon, which is basically everything in our planet in just the coal previously," she says. "Everything we make and use touches the climate."

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$135 million Houston battery storage facility breaks ground

coming soon

SMT Energy and CenterPoint Energy have partnered with utility infrastructure solutions provider Irby Construction Company to break ground on a 160 megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS) located in the Houston zone of the ERCOT market.

“We are proud to be underway and deliver this grid-strengthening project to Houston,” Kevin Midei, SVP of engineering, procurement and construction, at SMT Energy, said in a news release.

The BESS, SMT Houston IV, is expected to support grid stability, deliver fast-response power during peak demands and provide resiliency and renewable integration. The project is expected to be online by 2026 and store and dispatch enough electricity to power 8,800 homes in Texas annually.

SMT Energy is the project owner and developer, and CenterPoint Energy will serve as the interconnecting utility, integrating the system into Houston’s broader electrical network,” according to the companies. Irby Construction will serve as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor, and construction of the project is expected to be completed by July. On May 14, the companies broke ground with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to symbolize the start of the build.

“Projects like this demonstrate how collaboration and forward-thinking infrastructure come together to power a more resilient energy future,” Tony Gardner, SVP and chief customer officer at CenterPoint, said in a news release. “At CenterPoint, we recently completed nearly 90 percent of our overall grid resiliency improvements. This is one more action we are taking to build a more resilient and reliable grid to better serve our customers.”

In March, Colorado-based SMT Energy secured $135 million in funding for the SMT Houston IV, led by Macquarie and KeyBanc Capital Markets as joint lead arrangers. In 2023, SMT Energy and joint venture partner SUSI Partners announced plans to add 10 battery storage projects to Texas, which would double capacity from 100 megawatts to 200 megawatts in the Houston and Dallas areas.

In 2019, Irby began construction on the Manatee BESS site with Florida Power and Light (FPL), which was the world’s largest BESS project at the time. Irby has built over 30 BESS sites and has more than 20 currently under construction or contract.

Daikin completes solar plant to power massive Houston-area campus

switched on

Japanese HVAC company Daikin Industries has completed a nearly one-megawatt solar power plant at its Daikin Comfort Technologies North America campus southeast of Waller.

Daikin says the new plant at its 4.2 million-square-foot Daikin Texas Technology Park will eliminate an estimated 845 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. The park houses the largest HVAC factory in North America.

“Daikin’s unwavering commitment to innovation drives us to continually perfect the air we share. With the launch of this solar project, we’re one step closer to being a net-zero CO2 emission factory by 2030,” Nathan Walker, senior vice president of environmental business development of locally based Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, said in a release. “This installation is a significant step in reducing our carbon footprint and underscores our commitment to energy efficiency, sustainability, and environmental stewardship.”

Solar power from the new facility will power the Daikin campus’ central chiller plant, which circulates about 125,000 gallons of chilled water annually and 75,000 gallons of hot water in the winter. Also, the solar setup is designed to connect to the electric grid that serves the campus. About 10,000 people work at the campus.

Daikin, a Fortune 1000 company, may not have been a familiar name to some Houstonians until January, when it took over the naming rights for the Houston Astros’ stadium. The naming rights agreement for Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park, expires during the Astros’ 2039 season. The stadium had been named Minute Maid Park since 2002.

“The Astros are the pride of Houston, an organization that has built resiliency in hard times, and have succeeded to be a winning team. The coming together of both our organizations is a symbol of our love for our hometown and the communities of the Greater Houston area,” Takayuki “Taka” Inoue, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Daikin Comfort Technologies North America, said in November.

OTC names 4 Houston professionals as 2025 emerging leaders

young pros

Four Houston professionals have been named to the Offshore Technology Conference's 2025 Emerging Leaders class.

The group of 10 represents individuals with less than 10 years of experience who have "demonstrated exceptional talent, commitment, and promise as future leaders in the offshore energy sector," according to a release from OTC. They were recognized at the annual conference, which was held May 5-8 at NRG Center.

Each year, Emerging Leaders are selected by the previous year’s group and are members of an OTC sponsoring, endorsing or supporting organization. While a number hail from the Houston area, this year's group is comprised of energy professionals from all over the world.

“This year’s leaders have a clear passion for the industry, are eager to play a role in its future, and serve as inspiration to others through their exemplary commitment to excellence and pursuit of new horizons.” Alex Martinez, chair of the OTC Board, said in a news release.

The 2025 Houston-area Emerging Leaders include:

  • Ellen Reat Wersan, an exploration geoscientist at Chevron
  • Brooke Polk, vice president-accreditation operations at the International Association of Drilling Contractors
  • Zheng Fan, assistant professor in the mechanical engineering technology department at the University of Houston
  • Scott Pisarik, lead materials and corrosion engineer at Chevron

Other recipients included:

  • Yingda Lu, assistant professor in the petroleum and geosystems engineering department at The University of Texas at Austin
  • Olusola Komolafe, project engineer at Geosyntec Consultants Inc.
  • Gabriel Correa Perocco, project manager at MODEC do Brasil
  • Sridhar Krishnamoorthy, senior research fellow and PhD research scholar at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras Chennai India
  • Daniel Toerner, technical sales engineer at Bardex Corp.
  • Olawale Ajayi, reservoir engineer at NNPC Limited

OTC concluded last week and brought together energy professionals, policymakers and scholars from more than 100 countries while showcasing more than 1,000 companies. Sessions featured prominent energy execs, including Oxy president and CEO Vicki Hollub from Houston and Brazil-based Petrobras' president Magda Chambriard. According to OTC, the event has generated $1.6 billion in income for Houston’s economy since 2010.

"From the latest technology to generation-changing policy discussions, this year’s success reflects the industry’s commitment to shaping the future of energy, advancing innovations and fostering global collaboration," Martinez added in a statement.

OTC 2026 will take place May 4-7, 2026, at NRG Center in Houston.