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Who's who in Houston energy transition: Top 5 interviews of 2024

year in review

Here were the top energy transition interviews on EnergyCapital — according to its readers. Photos courtesy

Editor's note: As the year comes to a close, EnergyCapital is looking back at the year's top stories in Houston energy transition. EnergyCapital launched specifically to cover the energy transition community — and that includes the people who power it. Throughout the year, we spoke to these individuals and some resonated more than others to readers. Be sure to click through to read the full interviews or stream the podcast episode.

David Pruner, executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E)

David Pruner, executive director of TEX-E, joins the Houston Innovator Podcast. Photo via LinkedIn

David Pruner is laser focused on the future workforce for the energy industry as executive director of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, a nonprofit housed out of Greentown Labs that was established to support energy transition innovation at Texas universities.

TEX-E launched in 2022 in collaboration with Greentown Labs, MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and five university partners — Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin.

Pruner was officially named to his role earlier this year, but he's been working behind the scenes for months now getting to know the organization and already expanding its opportunities from students across the state at the five institutions. Read more.


Barbara Burger, mentor and adviser

Houston energy leader Barbara Burger joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the energy transition's biggest challenges and her key takeaways from CERAWeek. Photo courtesy of CERAWeek

Last month, Barbara Burger participated in four panels at CERAWeek by S&P Global, and from her insider perspective, she had a few key takeaways from the event, which brought together energy leaders, tech startups, dignitaries, civil servants, and more.

In a recent podcast interview, Burger shared some of her key takeaways from the event — and how these trends are affecting the industry as a whole. Read through an excerpt or stream the full episode below. Read more.


Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize Capital

Tyler Lancaster, a Chicago-based investor with Energize Capital, shares his investment thesis and why Houston-based Amperon caught his eye. Photo courtesy of Energize Capital

One of the biggest challenges to the energy transition is finding the funds to fuel it. Tyler Lancaster, partner at Energize Capital, is playing a role in that.

Energize Capital, based in Chicago, is focused on disruptive software technology key to decarbonization. One of the firm's portfolio companies is Amperon, which raised $20 million last fall.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Lancaster shares what he's focused on and why Amperon caught Energize Capital's attention. Read more.

Teresa Thomas, vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte

Teresa Thomas, newly named vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte, shares her vision in an interview. Photo via LinkedIn

Deloitte is undergoing a leadership shift — and this evolution for the nearly 200-year-old company directly affects its Houston office and the energy transition line of business.

Earlier this month, Teresa Thomas was named vice chair and national sector leader for energy and chemicals at Deloitte. Based in Houston, she will also serve as an advisory partner and leader in Deloitte & Touche LLP's Risk & Financial Advisory energy and chemicals practice. She succeeds Amy Chronis, partner at Deloitte LLP, who will continue to serve within the energy and chemicals practice until her retirement in June 2024.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Thomas shares a bit about what she plans on focusing as she takes on her new role. Read more.

Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo Energy

Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo Energy, shares how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, and more, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future. Photo via HETI

Houston-based Fervo Energy, the leader in enhanced geothermal technology, is accelerating decarbonization by bringing 24/7 carbon-free electricity to the grid.

Fervo’s mission is to leverage geoscience innovations to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Fervo continues to demonstrate the commercial viability and scalability of enhanced geothermal energy, which uses breakthrough techniques to harness heat from the earth and generate continuous electricity.

Sarah Jewett, VP of Strategy at Fervo, shared more about how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, well stimulation, and fiber-optic sensing, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future. Read more.

Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Fervo Energy, shares how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, and more, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future. Photo via HETI

Houston geothermal exec shares why she sees the potential of geothermal power

the view from heti

Houston-based Fervo Energy, the leader in enhanced geothermal technology, is accelerating decarbonization by bringing 24/7 carbon-free electricity to the grid.

Fervo’s mission is to leverage geoscience innovations to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Fervo continues to demonstrate the commercial viability and scalability of enhanced geothermal energy, which uses breakthrough techniques to harness heat from the earth and generate continuous electricity.

Sarah Jewett, VP of Strategy at Fervo, shared more about how Fervo has been able to leverage proven oil and gas technologies, such as horizontal drilling, well stimulation, and fiber-optic sensing, to pave the way toward a low-carbon energy future.

Q: Can you share your background and tell us a little about your career prior to joining Fervo Energy?

I’m a mechanical engineer by training. My career started in oil field services after working internships in hydropower and wind power. Transition technologies, such as enhanced geothermal systems, require a wide range of technical and operational innovations. When I joined Fervo Energy, I knew I was with the right team to accomplish the massive mission of addressing climate change.

Q: What are some of the challenges Fervo encounters as a carbon-free energy company?

There are a lot of misperceptions around the geothermal industry. Traditional geothermal wells require highly specific subsurface conditions—the right heat, fluid saturation, and permeability. Because of this, it has been challenging to scale geothermal energy.

Our enhanced geothermal technology is a game changer, but our technical demonstrations are capital intensive. So, one of our biggest ongoing challenges is to execute our projects flawlessly, building a new reputation centered around scalability and affordability.

In addition, when we started, we faced a somewhat uncertain market. Today, as companies look for innovative ways to decarbonize operations, geothermal has become one of the hottest renewables on the market.

Q: You’re now in your seventh year as a company. What are some of the major milestones that have contributed to the success of the business?

Fervo recently completed the 30-day well test on Project Red, a first-of-its-kind geothermal pilot project, located in northern Nevada. We confirmed record production of 24/7 carbon-free enhanced geothermal energy, which established Project Red as the most productive enhanced geothermal system in history.

This success validated the commercial viability of Fervo’s geothermal well construction and monitoring technologies, which leverage drilling and production innovations from modern oil and gas development. Since then, we’ve broken ground on our Cape Station project, a near-field development in southwest Utah that is set to deliver 400 MW of power by 2028.

Q: Tell us about your vision for the future. What is Fervo Energy focused on in 2024?

We’re ushering in a new era of geothermal energy. Our approach to enhanced geothermal energy is no longer a theoretical concept—it’s a proven solution for meeting the world’s growing demand for sustainable energy. We’re building modular power facilities and we’re able to scale them quickly. In 2024, we’re focused on finding the capital we need to achieve the scale we want. That will be key to unlocking much more growth.

———

This article originally ran on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. For more information about the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

Learn more about Fervo Energy and its pioneering approach to next-generation geothermal energy.

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Houston geothermal company raises $97M Series B

fresh funding

Houston-based geothermal energy startup Sage Geosystems has closed its Series B fundraising round and plans to use the money to launch its first commercial next-generation geothermal power generation facility.

Ormat Technologies and Carbon Direct Capital co-led the $97 million round, according to a press release from Sage. Existing investors Exa, Nabors, alfa8, Arch Meredith, Abilene Partners, Cubit Capital and Ignis H2 Energy also participated, as well as new investors SiteGround Capital and The UC Berkeley Foundation’s Climate Solutions Fund.

The new geothermal power generation facility will be located at one of Ormat Technologies' existing power plants. The Nevada-based company has geothermal power projects in the U.S. and numerous other countries around the world. The facility will use Sage’s proprietary pressure geothermal technology, which extracts geothermal heat energy from hot dry rock, an abundant geothermal resource.

“Pressure geothermal is designed to be commercial, scalable and deployable almost anywhere,” Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, said in the news release. “This Series B allows us to prove that at commercial scale, reflecting strong conviction from partners who understand both the urgency of energy demand and the criticality of firm power.”

Sage reports that partnering with the Ormat facility will allow it to market and scale up its pressure geothermal technology at a faster rate.

“This investment builds on the strong foundation we’ve established through our commercial agreement and reinforces Ormat’s commitment to accelerating geothermal development,” Doron Blachar, CEO of Ormat Technologies, added in the release. “Sage’s technical expertise and innovative approach are well aligned with Ormat’s strategy to move faster from concept to commercialization. We’re pleased to take this natural next step in a partnership we believe strongly in.”

In 2024, Sage agreed to deliver up to 150 megawatts of new geothermal baseload power to Meta, the parent company of Facebook. At the time, the companies reported that the project's first phase would aim to be operating in 2027.

The company also raised a $17 million Series A, led by Chesapeake Energy Corp., in 2024.

Houston expert discusses the clean energy founder's paradox

Guest Column

Everyone tells you to move fast and break things. In clean energy, moving fast without structural integrity means breaking the only planet we’ve got. This is the founder's paradox: you are building a company in an industry where the stakes are existential, the timelines are glacial, and the capital requires patience.

The myth of the lone genius in a garage doesn’t really apply here. Clean energy startups aren’t just fighting competitors. They are fighting physics, policy, and decades of existing infrastructure. This isn’t an app. You’re building something physical that has to work in the real world. It has to be cheaper, more reliable, and clearly better than fossil fuels. Being “green” alone isn’t enough. Scale is what matters.

Your biggest risks aren’t competitors. They’re interconnection delays, permitting timelines, supply chain fragility, and whether your first customer is willing to underwrite something that hasn’t been done before.

That reality creates a brutal filter. Successful founders in this space need deep technical knowledge and the ability to execute. You need to understand engineering, navigate regulation, and think in terms of markets and risk. You’re not just selling a product. You’re selling a future where your solution becomes the obvious choice. That means connecting short-term financial returns with long-term system change.

The capital is there, but it’s smarter and more demanding. Investors today have PhDs in electrochemistry and grid dynamics. They’ve been burned by promises of miracle materials that never left the lab. They don't fund visions; they fund pathways to impact that can scale and make financial sense. Your roadmap must show not just a brilliant invention, but a clear, believable plan to drive costs down over time.

Capital in this sector isn’t impressed by ambition alone. It wants evidence that risk is being retired in the right order — even if that means slower growth early.

Here’s the upside. The difficulty of clean energy is also its strength. If you succeed, your advantage isn’t just in software or branding. It’s in hardware, supply chains, approvals, and years of hard work that others can’t easily copy. Your real competitors aren’t other startups. They’re inertia and the existing system. Winning here isn’t zero-sum. When one solution scales, it helps the entire market grow.

So, to the founder in the lab, or running field tests at a remote site: your pace will feel slow. The validation cycles are long. But you are building in the physical world. When you succeed, you don’t have an exit. You have a foundation. You don't just have customers; you have converts. And the product you ship doesn't just generate revenue; it creates a legacy.

If your timelines feel uncomfortable compared to software, that’s because you’re operating inside a system designed to resist change. And let’s not forget you are building actual physical products that interact with a complex world. Times are tough. Don’t give up. We need you.

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Nada Ahmed is the founding partner at Houston-based Energy Tech Nexus.

Houston maritime startup raises $43M to electrify cargo vessels

A Houston-based maritime technology company that is working to reduce emissions in the cargo and shipping industry has raised VC funding and opened a new Houston headquarters.

Fleetzero announced that it closed a $43 million Series A financing round this month led by Obvious Ventures with participation from Maersk Growth, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, 8090 Industries, Y Combinator, Shorewind, Benson Capital and others. The funding will go toward expanding manufacturing of its Leviathan hybrid and electric marine propulsion system, according to a news release.

The technology is optimized for high-energy and zero-emission operation of large vessels. It uses EV technology but is built for maritime environments and can be used on new or existing ships with hybrid or all-electric functions, according to Fleetzero's website. The propulsion system was retrofitted and tested on Fleetzero’s test ship, the Pacific Joule, and has been deployed globally on commercial vessels.

Fleetzero is also developing unmanned cargo vessel technology.

"Fleetzero is making robotic ships a reality today. The team is moving us from dirty, dangerous, and expensive to clean, safe, and cost-effective. It's like watching the future today," Andrew Beebe, managing director at Obvious Ventures, said in the news release. "We backed the team because they are mariners and engineers, know the industry deeply, and are scaling with real ships and customers, not just renderings."

Fleetzero also announced that it has opened a new manufacturing and research and development facility, which will serve as the company's new headquarters. The facility features a marine robotics and autonomy lab, a marine propulsion R&D center and a production line with a capacity of 300 megawatt-hours per year. The company reports that it plans to increase production to three gigawatt-hours per year over the next five years.

"Houston has the people who know how to build and operate big hardware–ships, rigs, refineries and power systems," Mike Carter, co-founder and COO of Fleetzero, added in the release. "We're pairing that industrial DNA with modern batteries, autonomy, and software to bring back shipbuilding to the U.S."

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