DOE loans Houston company $3B for project that will provide solar energy to underserved communities

ray of sunshine

Houston-based Sunnova Energy has secured a loan from the Department of Energy. Photo via sunnova.com

A partial loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy will support more than $5 billion in loans for Sunnova Energy equipment and technology that’ll supply solar energy to underserved communities.

The $3 billion partial loan guarantee equates to a 90 percent guarantee of up to $3.3 billion in loans. In turn, Sunnova says, that’ll support more than $5 billion in loans to about 75,000 to 115,000 U.S. households. It’s said to be the largest single commitment to solar power ever made by the federal government.

At least 20 percent of the Project Hestia loans will be extended to customers with FICO credit scores of 680 or less, and up to 20 percent of the loans will be earmarked for homeowners in impoverished Puerto Rico.

The Department of Energy (DOE) says Sunnova’s Project Hestia — a virtual power plant — will provide rooftop solar, battery storage, and energy software to residential customers and create more than 3,400 jobs. Sunnova, an energy-as-a-service provider, says each residential power system will feature energy technology accessible by smartphones and other electronic devices.

“The software will give customers insight into their household’s energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, allowing customers to reduce electricity use — or even contribute electricity to the system in markets that allow such contributions — when the grid is under stress,” says DOE.

The estimated 568-megawatt Project Hestia is poised to help avoid the emission of more than 7.1 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years, DOE says. The project will produce enough energy to power roughly 425,000 homes per year.

John Berger, CEO of Sunnova, says the federal loan guarantee “marks the beginning of an exciting chapter in our pursuit of a cleaner and more equitable energy landscape. With our collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, we are embarking on a journey that expands clean energy access and delivers economic benefit to Americans in disadvantaged communities.”

As of June 30, Sunnova had 348,600 customers in the U.S., up from 279,400 at the end of 2022. The company projects a 40 percent rate of customer growth in 2024 compared with 2023.

The publicly traded company posted revenue of $328.1 million in the first half of 2023, up from $212.7 million during the same period last year.

Last month, in an interview with EnergyCapital, Berger explained misconceptions about solar power, predicted the rise of the home as a power station, and highlighted the importance of energy independence.

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Solid-state generator company secures $9M in financing, names CTO

fresh financing

ATS Energy has secured a $9 million investment to help commercialize its solid-state generator technology, a representative from the company tells Energy Capital.

The Colorado-based company is a member of Houston's Greentown Labs climatech community and was named the second most-promising startup in the Innovations for Traditional Energy, Electricity, & the Grid track during CERA Week's Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition in March.

ATS's technology converts industrial waste heat into electricity via its proprietary thermoelectric cartridges, according to a news release. The cartridges convert the otherwise wasted thermal energy directly into usable electricity with no turbine, no moving parts and no emissions.

"We have spent years building a proven track record of breakthrough technology," Doug Hudson, CEO of ATS Energy, said in the release. "What has developed over the past year is that markets are moving toward ATS Energy, said in the release. We've moved well beyond early interest to commercial commitments, active proposals and a pipeline that continues to expand across multiple industrial sectors. That puts us in a tremendous position to meet the moment in delivering energy to industry. This investment responds to real commercial opportunity, and it positions ATS Energy to scale production, meet customer demand faster, and drive commercial deployments."

According to the release, ATS plans to complete and deploy its first commercial generator using the thermoelectric cartridges by mid-2027. The company shared that it plans to begin revenue-generating operations next year, as well.

ATS has also named Edward Ganja as its new CTO. Ganja previously served as a technology advisor for ATS and spent more than 30 years at Shell, most recently as vice president of catalyst and analytical technology in Houston, according to LinkedIn.

"Having worked closely with the team as a Technology Adviser, I am thrilled to step into the Chief Technology Officer role to lead our technology strategy and advanced materials scale-up," Ganja shared in a LinkedIn post. "ATS is tackling crucial energy challenges, and I look forward to working with our talented team, partners, and industry colleagues to accelerate our commercial development and technological footprint."

A representative from the company shares that ATS has three employees in Texas, including two in Houston. The company is targeting industrial facilities, including Gulf Coast refineries and petrochemical plants, for its production model, which will leverage established manufacturing capabilities to help quickly scale its commercial pipeline.

"We are scaling manufacturing with the discipline required for commercial-grade industrial deployment, moving beyond proof-of-concept to deliver mission-critical equipment," Terry Hill, COO of ATS, added in the release. "We've been building the supply chain, identifying the right manufacturing partners and putting the processes in place to move toward repeatable production. By leveraging contract manufacturing, we can focus our capital on the technology, the product and our customers rather than building factories. Just as importantly, we're working to reduce the time between installations so we can respond to the demand we're seeing in the market."

ATS won the prestigious Earthshot Prize in the Fix Our Climate category in 2024. The Earthshot Prize, founded by Prince William, awards £1 million to five energy startups each year over a decade.

Trump says he's ending restrictions on methane emissions from oil drilling

In the News

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is “terminating” a Biden-era rule that aimed to cut planet-warming emissions of methane from oil and gas drilling.

Trump said during a campaign rally in Texas that the change would save companies and consumers billions of dollars and unlock 210 million barrels of oil. That’s equivalent to about 10 days of U.S. petroleum consumption.

The move aims to encourage more domestic drilling as Trump faces criticism over high fuel prices amid the war in Iran.

Methane is responsible for about a third of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, scientists estimate.

Cuts in methane emissions have emerged in recent years as a global priority to slow the rate of climate change. Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane, which is the main component in natural gas and far more potent to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide in the short term.

The invisible gas leaks from equipment and is released into the atmosphere or burned off as a waste product by oil drillers.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin previewed the changes last month, saying they would eliminate the agency’s “Super Emitter Program” that requires companies to investigate and repair major methane releases from oil and natural gas facilities. The agency would also set less restrictive standards for small oil and gas wells.

Trump said during Tuesday's rally in Lubbock for Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton that Biden's plan “crushed the small operators” with crippling regulations.

“I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers $45 billion in costs,” Trump said.

The loosening of the emissions rule comes as Trump and Republicans in Congress have been methodically dismantling climate policies enacted under former President Joe Biden. That's included the revocation of a scientific finding that was central to U.S. action on greenhouse gas emissions, lower fuel economy standards for vehicles and a move to repeal emission restrictions for coal and natural gas power plants.

Environmental groups said the latest rollback will let companies continue polluting the atmosphere with gas that could be captured and provide energy to millions of households.

Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said it gives a “free pass” to companies at the expense of American consumers.

“EPA should be fighting this waste, not making it easier,” he said.

Zeldin has said the methane rule would have cost $18 billion and was holding back the U.S. energy industry.

The Biden methane rule was announced by officials including former Vice President Kamala Harris during a 2023 U.N. climate conference in the United Arab Emirates.

Federal officials under Biden said it would prevent an estimated 58 million tons (52.6 million metric tonnes) of methane emissions by 2038 and reduce other pollutants that cause health problems.

By 2034, the rule was projected to yield $98 billion in benefits. That figure was derived by calculating the future “social costs” of greenhouse gas emissions on public health and the environment, an approach rejected by Trump's EPA.

While previous regulations focused only on new oil and gas wells in the U.S., the Biden rule regulated existing wells. Operators also would have needed to plug leaking methane from smaller wells that produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas while accounting for up to half of all methane emissions from oil and gas fields.

The final rule was published in 2024. The EPA last year imposed an 18-month delay to give companies time to meet new inspection requirements and other provisions.

The rule was crafted to be coordinated with a methane fee, approved in the 2022 climate law. The fee program would have levied a “waste emissions charge” of as much as $1,500 per metric ton of methane on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane emissions.

The fee marked the first time the U.S. government directly imposed a fee, or tax, on greenhouse gas emissions. Congress repealed it weeks after Trump took office.

Officials also tried to rein in methane from oil and gas under former President Barack Obama, but that effort was scaled back during Trump's first term.

Houston energy company expands battery storage deal with Samsung

battery boost

Houston-based Alpha Omega Power, which develops, invests in and runs utility-scale battery energy storage systems, has signed a deal to add more storage capacity from a subsidiary of South Korean tech giant Samsung.

The latest deal adds 1 gigawatt-hour of storage capacity to Alpha Omega’s existing contract with Samsung SDI America, bringing total storage capacity to 1.5 gigawatts.

The Michigan-based Samsung subsidiary is manufacturing the systems’ cells and modules at a plant in Indiana, Alpha Omega said. Samsung SDI plans to deliver them by the end of this year.

“This second agreement strengthens our domestic supply chain supporting the next generation of energy infrastructure,” Paul Choi, CEO of Alpha Omega, said in a press release.

Houston-based Fengate Asset Management owns Alpha Omega. In 2023, they formed a partnership to build, acquire, and operate utility-scale battery energy storage projects in the U.S. Their 200-megawatt Vertus battery facility in Galveston County came online this month.

Alpha Omega plans to use the Samsung SDI systems to improve grid reliability and meet greater demand for power in markets served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Salt Lake City-based Western Electricity Coordinating Council.

ERCOT covers 90 percent of power customers in Texas. The Western Interconnection grid covers all or part of 14 states, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.

Samsung SDI is the only non-Chinese supplier of rigid-metal “prismatic” energy storage batteries in North America, according to Alpha Omega.

“With strong durability and fire safety compared with pouch-type batteries, its prismatic batteries have helped the company meet the stringent requirements of U.S. energy companies,” Alpha Omega said.

The Samsung Battery Box 1.7 equipment being purchased by Alpha Omega offers AI-powered algorithms and 25 years of continuous use, along with greater energy density than its predecessor. It also features the ability to directly inject fire-extinguishing agents on a module-by-module basis.

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