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Woodlands-based Lancium teams up on West Texas data center campus

coming soon

Lancium Technologies has teamed up on a 1-gigawatt data center campus in Childress County. Photo via Getty Images

The Woodlands-based Lancium Technologies, which designs, develops, and manages gigawatt-scale data center campuses, has teamed up with Denver-based data center builder and operator Crusoe Energy Systems on a new grid-connected campus more than 100 miles east of Wichita Falls.

Construction on the 1-gigawatt Childress County campus, being built for an unidentified tech company, is expected to start in Q3 of this year.

Lancium owns the 270-acre site where the data center campus will be located and will set up and manage the campus’ energy infrastructure. Crusoe will design, build, and operate the campus.

The two companies already are working together on data centers in Abilene. Their first data center has already expanded to a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, and a 900-megawatt data center is planned for adjacent land owned by Lancium.

The Abilene project is the first site of the Stargate initiative, an AI infrastructure program backed by MGX, OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank to create a U.S. network of hyperscale AI data centers. The four-year initiative has earmarked $500 billion to build the network.

“Childress is a natural next step in our partnership with Crusoe,” Lancium CEO Michael McNamara said in a news release. “Crusoe has been a great partner to build alongside in Abilene, and we’re glad to bring that same model — and the jobs and investment that come with it — to the community of Childress. We are deeply committed to working with local stakeholders to advance a model of development that addresses the broader needs of the community we will share for a very long time.”

Last year, Lancium appeared at No. 43 on Time and Statista’s list of America’s top greentech companies.

Lancium has raised $1.25 billion in funding since its founding in 2017, according to PitchBook and CB Insights.

In 2021, Lancium closed $150 million in funding led by Hanwha Solutions, with participation from SBI Holdings, Novawulf and other investors. Four years later, the company arranged $600 million in debt financing to advance development of “clean” data center campuses.

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Crusoe Energy Systems announced its plans to build the 200 MW data center at the Lancium Clean Campus outside Abilene, Texas. Photo via lancium.com

Houston-area company specializing in creating clean campuses announces new data center project

coming soon

A California AI infrastructure company has announced it's building a 200 megawatt data center in Texas and will work with The Woodlands-based Lancium, a decarbonization-focused energy technology company.

Crusoe Energy Systems LLC announced its plans to build the 200 MW data center at the Lancium Clean Campus outside Abilene, Texas. The two companies will work to bring the data center online in the coming months, reports Lancium in a news release. Once completed, the first phase will enable AI workloads at scale across 1.2 gigawatts of power capacity.

“Lancium’s mission to decarbonize compute for the most energy-intensive workloads and this scale and type of data center is game-changing,” Michael McNamara, co-founder and CEO of Lancium, says in the release. “Our energy management expertise, the integration of incremental storage and solar generation resources behind-the-meter at the campus, and Crusoe’s design approach will combine to deliver the maximum amount of green energy at the lowest possible cost, while bringing significant benefits to the Abilene community.”

Lancium's role will include "land acquisition, power interconnect, site engineering, renewables interconnect, and power orchestration," per the release. Crusoe will own and develop the data center, which is expected to go online in 2025.

“Data centers are rapidly evolving to support modern AI workloads, requiring new levels of high density rack space, direct-to-chip liquid cooling and unprecedented overall energy demands. We’ve designed this data center to enable the largest clusters of GPUs in the world to drive new breakthroughs in AI,” adds Chase Lochmiller, Crusoe’s co-founder and CEO. “Given its leadership in renewable energy and plans for the site, working with Lancium in Abilene presents a unique opportunity to sustainably power the future of AI and we’re thrilled to have the support of the city in this ambitious endeavor.”

According to the release, the project will feature direct-to-chip liquid cooling or rear-door heat exchangers and will be flexible enough to include air cooling. Once completed, each building within the data center will be able to operate up to 100,000 GPUs on a single integrated network fabric, according to the companies.

Lancium has raised $150 million since its founding in 2017, according to Crunchbase. Investors include Hanwha Solutions and SBI Group.

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Fervo Energy strikes largest-ever power deal with Google

geothermal milestone

In its largest-ever purchase agreement, Houston-based geothermal company Fervo Energy will supply 396 megawatts of power to tech powerhouse Google.

The deal includes an option for Google to expand capacity by about 600 megawatts, for a total of 1 gigawatt, by June 2030, according to a news release from Fervo. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Google will purchase carbon-free energy from Fervo for a potential data center in Utah, where Fervo is building its more than $2 billion Cape Station geothermal project.

Fervo applies oil-and-gas fracking technology to create geothermal reservoirs and generate electricity.

The first phase of Cape Station is expected to begin delivering geothermal power by late 2026, reaching about 100 megawatts of capacity by early 2027. The second phase, set for completion in 2028, will add 400 megawatts of capacity.

Fervo co-founder and CEO Tim Latimer said in a release that the Google agreement supports enhanced geothermal systems as a key power source for “the next generation of computing infrastructure.”

“The next chapter of advanced power generation technology is being written in Utah,” said Lucia Tian, director of advanced energy technologies at Google.

The Fervo-Google agreement builds on an existing partnership. Fervo’s Project Red pilot development in Nevada, which came online in 2023, supplies power to the local grid. Users of the grid power include Google’s data centers in Nevada.

Fervo subsequently signed a 115-megawatt purchase agreement with Google and NV Energy. The deal enabled Google to bring more geothermal energy to the Nevada grid while insulating everyday customers from the project’s costs.

The latest Google deal is part of the ongoing expansion of Cape Station beyond its initial 100-megawatt phase. Fervo says Cape Station will be the world’s largest enhanced geothermal facility.

The Google agreement comes during a milestone year for Fervo, which was founded in 2017. In May, Fervo’s IPO raised $2.2 billion. The company, whose early investors include Bill Gates, is now valued at $5.65 billion.

8+ Houston energy events you must attend in September 2026

Must-attend meetings

Editor's note: September is here, and that means the return of some of Houston's biggest energy events of the year. On the agenda are exciting week-long energy and climate happenings, conferences, and more. Mark your calendars for these top Houston energy transition events taking place in September 2026, and register now.

September 13-18: Houston Energy & Climate Week

Houston Energy & Climate Week is a six-day gathering that welcomes an unparalleled selection of global energy leaders and communities to the energy capital of the world for a full slate of events, from tech tours and networking to a climatetech summit and digital symposium.

This event kicks off September 13 and continues for six days. Find details here.

September 14-18: Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week

Launched in 2024, the official Houston Energy and Climate Startup Week returns for its third year, showcasing how Houston is developing and scaling real solutions by meeting growing global energy demand while reducing carbon emissions. Join leading energy and climate venture capital investors, industry leaders, and startups from around the world for this showcase of the most innovative companies and technologies that are transforming the energy industry while driving a sustainable, low-carbon energy future.

This event kicks off September 14 and continues all week. Find details here.

September 16-17: Energy Tech Venture Forum

The Rice Alliance Energy Tech Venture Forum (ETVF) brings together the founders, investors, corporate leaders, and operators building the next generation of energy systems. ETVF is where breakthrough ideas meet the capital, partnerships, and industry expertise needed to accelerate commercialization and deployment. The 23rd Energy Tech Venture Forum will take place as an anchor event for Houston Energy + Climate Startup Week.

This event begins September 16 at Rice University. Early bird registration is available here.

September 20-23: 2026 Geothermal Rising Conference

Geothermal Rising Conference is the industry’s flagship annual conference, reflecting the global nature of the geothermal industry while highlighting the width and breadth of the community. The conference offers technical, policy, and market sessions, educational seminars, tours of geothermal and renewable energy projects, and numerous networking opportunities. An additional expo showcases projects, services, and state-of-the-art technology and equipment for the geothermal community.

This event begins September 20 at Marriott Marquis Houston. Register here.

September 22-23: 2026 API Offshore Safe Lifting Conference & Expo

The 2026 API Offshore Safe Lifting Conference & Expo is your opportunity to see the latest offshore developments while sharing experiences, practices, and even information on real-life incidents. The 2026 program features two full days of technical sessions, regulatory insights, and networking focused on advancing offshore lifting safety, with keynotes, emerging technologies, and multiple networking opportunities.

This event begins September 22 at the Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria. Register here.

September 22-24: Intelligent Asset Management in Energy Summit

The Intelligent Asset Management in Energy Summit is the premier North American event dedicated to helping energy leaders unlock the full potential of their assets through advanced analytics, predictive maintenance, and integrated digital strategies. The 2026 summit will cover how innovative asset management solutions can reduce downtime, optimize performance, and deliver measurable ROI in a rapidly evolving energy landscape.

This event begins September 22 at Norris Conference Center. Register here.

September 24: Grid Flexibility Summit

The executive-level event focuses on managing surging power loads, ERCOT market challenges, and grid modernization. Through candid discussions and real-world case studies, attendees will explore how grid flexibility can act as a reliability resource, how C&I customers can become active grid partners, and how a flexible grid buys time for the development of utility-scale projects. Designed as an intimate, decision-focused forum, the event prioritizes practical insights over theory — and action over aspiration.

This event takes place September 24 at Clifford Chance. Register here.

September 29-30: Gas to Grid Infrastructure Summit

The Gas to Grid Infrastructure Summit addresses the practical infrastructure challenge behind AI growth: how to deliver reliable, scalable, affordable, and lower-carbon power when grid capacity, gas supply, equipment lead times, and permitting timelines are all under pressure. This is where utilities, midstream operators, data center developers, OEMs, EPCs, investors, regulators, and technology providers meet to define the commercial, technical, and regulatory pathways for the next wave of gas-fired and grid-connected infrastructure.

This event begins September 29 at Norris Conference Center. Register here.

SLB to expand data center cooling business via $4 billion acquisition

cool deal

Houston’s SLB has announced plans to acquire German thermal management and heat exchange technology organization Kelvion for approximately $4 billion.

SLB reports in a news release that the acquisition is expected to boost its Data Center Solutions business, as thermal management technologies are key to cooling artificial-intelligence-related infrastructure. Data centers continue to pose numerous challenges, but SLB believes thermal management technology can help ease energy burdens.

“Data centers are becoming more sophisticated and energy-intensive, and customers are increasingly looking for partners that can optimize how critical systems work together across the facility and help bring new capacity online faster,” Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy and Industrial business, said in the release. “Thermal management is central to that challenge, and this acquisition allows us to address it directly by delivering more integrated cooling solutions, accelerating innovation, optimizing thermal efficiency, and more directly embedding thermal management into our modular infrastructure offering.”

SLB will acquire Kelvion from funds managed by New York-based financial services group Apollo Global Management Inc. for approximately $3.4 billion in cash and will assume about $700 million of debt, according to the release. The deal is expected to close in Q1 of 2027.

SLB says the acquisition will help it dramatically scale revenue generated by the data center sector.

“This transaction accelerates our ambition to become an industrial technology partner to the data center industry and help customers address the growing infrastructure complexity required to scale AI,” Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB, added in a news release. “Kelvion advances our path toward more integrated data center infrastructure solutions, expands our addressable market — more than doubling our revenue opportunity per gigawatt of delivered capacity — and allows us to scale both our offerings and the global reach of the business.”

SLB reports that it expects its Data Center Solutions business revenues to grow by more than 90 percent annually between 2024 and 2026.

If the acquisition is approved, the combined company will target revenue of $4.5 billion to $5 billion for its data center solutions business in 2028, according to the release.

Kelvion has previously served customers in AI infrastructure, energy system transformation and energy/ industrial markets. Its past work focuses on heat pumps, renewables, carbon capture and processing solutions for thermal management. According to the news release, Kelvion's data center revenue is expected to reach about $1.2 billion in 2026, and the sector is considered the company’s "largest and fastest-growing end market.

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