Houston clean-tech co. with NASA ties wins big at SXSW 2025

And the winner is...

Helix Earth was one of the winners of SXSW's 2025 pitch competition. Photo by Sergei A/Pexels

Houston had a strong showing at the 2025 SXSW Pitch showcase in Austin, with two local startups claiming top prizes, including a novel clean-tech startup.

Clean-tech company Helix Earth, which spun out of Rice University and was incubated at Greentown Labs, won in the Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability contest.

"We faced impressive competition from a well-chosen set of finalists, and we're honored to be chosen as the winners. One of the judges even commented, ‘Who knew you could make air conditioning sexy,’” Brad Husick, Helix's co-founder and chief business officer, said in a release.

Helix Earth was launched in 2022 and is known for its space capsule air filtration system that was co-developed for NASA. The commercial air conditioner add-on technology, now in a pilot phase, has been used to retrofit HVAC systems for commercial buildings and can save up to 50 percent of the net energy, cutting down on emissions and operating costs, according to the company. Its co-founder and CEO Rawand Rasheed was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Energy and Green Tech list for 2025.

“This win validates our mission to drive sustainable innovation in commercial air conditioning and beyond. We are excited about the future of Helix Earth and the impact we will have in reducing energy consumption and emissions," Rasheed said in a statement.

Little Place Labs, a Houston space data startup, also walked away a winner in the Security, GovTech & Space competition. The company uses advanced AI and machine learning to deliver near-real-time space analytics for both ground and space-based applications. Its software aims to help first responders, mission planners and decision-makers detect anomalies and make informed decisions quickly. It was co-founded in 2020 at Oxford by Houstonian and CEO Bosco Lai and Gaurav Bajaj and participated in the 2023 AWS Space Accelerator.

"This all started with a simple mission: To deliver real-time space insights to help first responders, mission planners, and decision-makers act before problems arise,” Little Place Labs wrote on LinkedIn. "Today, that mission feels even stronger."

One of SWSX's marquee events, the pitch competition, held March 8-10, featured 45 finalists, selected from 589 applicants, in nine categories.

Two other Houston companies were finalists this year:

Trez, a Latino-focused fintech company that uses AI and voice-command payroll through WhatsApp to provide culturally relevant payroll and streamline financial operations for Latino business owners.
Tempesst Droneworx, a veteran-owned software company that's Harbinger software providing real-time contextual intelligence for early warning detection, reducing time to decision and speeding time to action.

Jesse Martinez, founder of invincible, and Anu Puvvada of KPMG were two judges representing Houston.

According to SXSW, 647 companies have participated in SXSW Pitch over the years, with over 93 percent receiving funding and acquisitions totaling nearly $23.2 billion. See the full list of 2025 winners here.

Solar Slice Founder Nathan Childress says his new venture offers a fulfilling way to encourage and promote solar energy and a greener planet. Photo by Pixabay

Houston entrepreneur launches new venture to shine light on sustainability

texas innovator

A Houston nuclear engineer and entrepreneur wants consumers to capture their own ray of sunlight to brighten the prospect of making clean energy a bigger part of the power grid.

Solar Slice Founder Nathan Childress says his new venture offers a fulfilling way to encourage and promote solar energy and a greener planet. An experienced entrepreneur, Childress also serves as founder and CEO of technology software company Macorva.

Although trained in nuclear power plant design, solar power drew his interest as a cheaper and more accessible alternative, and Childress tells InnovationMap that he thinks that the transition to cleaner energy, in Texas especially, needs to step up.

With energy demand skyrocketing, and the push toward renewable solutions, solar seems like a safe bet for Childress, a former competitive high-stakes poker player. Childress cites a recent Yale University study that says 63 percent of Americans “feel a personal responsibility to help reduce global warming.”

But some studies show that 80 to 90 percent of the money invested into fighting climate change “aren’t going to things that people actually consider helpful,” he says.

“They’re more just projects that sound good, that are not actually taking any action,” says Childress, who has called Houston home for 25 years. He received his doctorate in medical physics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, where he worked on software that provided radiation therapy for patients.

The initial Kickstarter fundraising round, which will be launched soon, will finance the construction of one utility-scale solar farm, on about five to 10 acres, which would produce about 1 megawatt, or 1,000 kilowatts, of clean energy. The plant would make enough energy to power about 200 average homes.

Childress says interest has been strong, with several thousand signed up on the Kickstarter launch list. Some who are signed up expressed interest in a subscription, he said, and that may be offered later. Initially, though, for a one-time purchase of $95, a Solar Slice client can purchase one virtual 50W slice of solar power, produced by the farm. Over its lifetime, Childress says, that one purchase can offset three tons of carbon dioxide.

The app tracks carbon offsetting, and energy production for the slice, showing a client “exactly how much I have helped the climate, here’s exactly how (many) emissions I have prevented from putting in the atmosphere,” he says.

The energy produced by five slices can offset the average American’s carbon footprint for a year, and the power generated by the solar farm will be sold to the electric grid. As clients purchase more slices, they can earn eco-credits to donate to other climate-friendly partners, to plant trees or create pollinator habitats.

While Solar Slice is a for-profit venture, contributors won’t get rich or even make money from their purchase. Rather, it provides validation.

“Our focus is maximizing the real world impact, not for financial gain. This is not something people sign up (for) to make money. We’re really clear about that,” Childress says. “I want to show that it’s possible to have a for-profit company that is sustainable, that does good work.

“And hopefully, we can be part of the spirit…for a bigger movement, and for consumers and business, especially, to do things that matter.”

Solar Slice Founder Nathan Childress says his new venture offers a fulfilling way to encourage and promote solar energy and a greener planet. Photo courtesy

The largest U.S. solar plants are in Nevada and California, and those states are sites under consideration, but Childress says Texas is the most likely home for the initial project. The ten largest utility-scale solar plants in Texas by capacity are all in far west or central parts of the state, according to the state comptroller’s office.

Childress has a team of four, who are handling the marketing, plant design and site scouting, and hopes to hire five to 10 more, depending on response and growth. He says the Solar Slice consumer can directly connect in real time to the contribution that their purchase will make toward a green energy future.

“That was our inspiration..let’s start something that is really making a difference..and making really clear to the individuals what’s being done,” he says.

Solar energy has become a growing source of power for Texas, comprising about 6 percent of the state’s energy generation, as of 2022, the comptroller’s office says.

The state ranks first in projected growth of solar energy over the next five years, with more than 9,500 operating solar plants, and many thousands more announced, according to the state Public Utility Commission.

“We would absolutely love to make this into something where we are building plants around the nation, around the world,” Childress he says.

However, resistance to alternative energy projects like solar and wind, especially on a large scale, remains in some quarters.

Obtaining site permits for swaths of land can be also a challenge. For example, a recent survey by Berkeley Lab of 123 professionals from 62 unique, large-scale wind and solar energy facilities showed that about one-third of wind and solar siting applications in the past five years were canceled.

Half of the projects experienced delays of six months or longer. And according to the survey, developers expect the trend to continue, and become more expensive to address.

However, another Berkeley Lab survey of residents who live within three miles of a solar power plant showed that most view the plant positively. The larger the plant, the more negative the response in the survey. The smaller the farm, the more positive the reactions.

Childress says many of the common objections to utility-scale solar farms are misguided, and incorrect. For example, the concern that they would take over available farmland or take up too much space.

He says that even if the entire U.S. power grid relied solely on solar power, the plants would occupy not even a half percent of available land, which is about one percent farmland.

After winning CodeLaunch last year, Matt Bonasera, enterprise architect at E360, looks forward to the future of the energy tech company. Photo by Natalie Harms/InnovationMap

This Houston energy tech company to move the needle on building efficiency, air quality

breathing green

Houston-based energy efficiency company Energy 360 is working to balance what is often viewed as a tradeoff between high quality clean air and energy efficiency within corporate buildings.

E360 is a subsidiary of InTech Energy, a software company that provides a variety of energy efficiency solutions for commercial spaces. The enterprise architect of E360, Matt Bonasera, says the platform functions as an energy management system as it monitors air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and can adjust electricity usage among a host of other outputs.

“We are trying to holistically look at each building instead of just looking at it purely from the energy efficiency perspective or purely from looking at it from a health perspective,” Bonasera says.

Bonasera says E360 is the “last mile” in the energy transition, ensuring companies stick to their cost and energy-saving tactics after implementing them via consistent monitoring. E360 also helps users acquire energy efficiency grants from the U.S. government, using the platform to keep corporations accountable to their energy-saving goals.

“The market is really desperate for energy efficiency, and there’s a lot of low hanging fruit out there. Only 10 percent of buildings have any energy efficiency mechanisms whatsoever,” Bonasera shares.

Bonasera says E360 predominantly works with corporations that own their own commercial space, particularly charter schools, churches, and Native American reservations. Though the platform is designed to save building-owners money and can assist commercial subletters, Bonasera says E360’s users tend to have a personal interest in their own air quality and emissions, prompting them to use the system.

Bonasera says E360 has the potential to dramatically improve the learning environment in schools since contracting with Stafford ISD and several charter schools. After implementing E360’s air quality monitoring and purifying system, Bonasera said schools experienced a significant drop in absenteeism.

“If you just improve the air quality in the building, students will do better, they will have better grades and we will have better outcomes,” Bonasera says.

After initially rolling their product out in California, Bonasera says E360 is gaining serious traction in the South, particularly in Texas. Following the devastating Winter Storm Uri, Bonasera says there has been increased interest in systems like E360 as Texans are hyper-aware of the delicate state of the energy grid.

“In Texas people are looking for ways to be more energy efficient and self-sufficient and this is a way that we help them,” Bonasera shares.

E360 won the top prize at CodeLaunch, a traveling seed-stage accelerator, in March 2023 and Bonasera says he is excited about what the future holds as they continuously release new updates to the platform.

“I think we’re at an inflection point in the company and I think this is going to be a really pivotal year for us in growth,” Bonasera says.

Bart Womack founded Eden Grow Systems in 2017. Photo courtesy

Houston entrepreneur crowdfunding for sustainable farming solution

growing green

Whether it’s on Mars or at the kitchen table, entrepreneur Bart Womack wants to change what and how you eat.

But the CEO and founder of next-generation farming startup Eden Grow Systems is seeking crowdfunders to help feed the venture.

The company evokes images of a garden paradise on earth. But the idea behind the Houston-based NASA spinoff came from a more pragmatic view of the world. Womack’s company sells indoor food towers, self-contained, modular plant growth systems built on years of research by NASA scientists looking for the best way to feed astronauts in space.

The company has launched a $1.24 million regulated crowdfunding campaign to raise the money it needs to scale and expand manufacturing outside the current location in Washington state.

Additionally, the U.S. Air Force recently chose Eden as a food source for the U.S. Space Force base on remote Ascension Island, in the Atlantic Ocean, Womack tells InnovationMap. Another project with Space Center Houston is also in the works.

“We want to be the government and DOD contractor for these kind of next-generation farming systems,” he says.

The Houston-based company includes former NASA scientists, like recent hire Dr. L. Marshall Porterfield, of Purdue University, as an innovation advisor.

Womack, a former digital marketer, Houston public channel show host, night club owner and entertainment entrepreneur, left those ventures in 2012, after the birth of his first child. While taking a year to study trends research, in 2014, what he read intrigued and alarmed him.

“I’ll never forget, I came across a report from Chase Manhattan Bank….of the top 10 disruptive investment sectors, over the next decade,” he says. “At the very top of the list was food.”

His conclusions on the fragility of the world’s food supply system, due to overpopulation, and scarcer land, led him to launch Eden in 2017, funded by venture capital firm SpaceFund, Womack, his family, friends and angel investors.

Womack believes “black swan” events will only increase, disrupting the food supply system and further jeopardizing food supplies.

“We’re going to enter a period of hyper novelty in history,” Womack says.. "The system we’ve built for the last 100 years, the super optimized system, is going to begin to break apart."

To avert a centralized food production outcome, operated by corporate giants like Amazon or Walmart, Womack’s vision offers a decentralized alternative, leaving it in local hands.

With $2 million put into the company so far and a half million-dollars in sales last year, Womack argues that Eden has achieved much and can make food independence within reach for everyday families.

The company commercialized NASA technology to fill what it viewed as “a huge gap within the controlled…agricultural space.”

The tower is the building block of a modular, automated and vertical indoor plant growth system, with calibrated misting, fans, and LED lighting, controlled by an app.

The company website touts the towers as an easy way to grow plants like lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes, with little water, no soil, and lots of air, without the expense and work of cultivating an earth-based garden.

For those who want to eat more than greens, the towers provide a way to breed fish and shrimp in an aquaponic version, recycling fish waste as plant fertilizer.

However, big plans come with big costs. The towers range in price from $5,000 to $7,000, although payment plans for those who qualify make it affordable.

Eden has sold around 100 of their towers so far, to a variety of customers. But rising costs and shipping delays have led to a a three-month backlog.

The manufacturing and shipping associated with larger installations means that even if the company made a million-dollar sale, delivery of the product would take a year.

“One of the hardest things…as a start-up, the last couple of years, is trying to narrow down exactly where the biggest payback is,” Womack says. “There is the lower hanging fruit, of small sales to individual buyers, but there’s the larger fruit of institutional buyers. But they can take months and years to convert into an actual buyer.”

Customers include several universities, including Texas A&M University and Prairie View A&M University, and talks are underway with other large academic institutions.

For now, attracting investors so the company can reach its funding goal poses the biggest challenge.

“Texas investors are very, very hard-nosed, and they’re not like West Coast investors. They want to understand exactly how they’re going to get their money back, and exactly how quickly,” he says.

Womack says the crowdfunding round would allow the company to expand manufacturing operations into Houston, deliver product faster, and invest in advertising.

“When we complete this round, and become completely self sufficient, we’re planning on moving to a $25 million valuation,” Womack says. “We can show, given money, we can scale the company.”

The city of Nassau Bay, next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, has purchased towers and plans to purchase more, not for the production of food, but to grow ornamental flowers.

Womack says that city officials there found that it’s cheaper to grow the decorative plants themselves, rather than buying them.

The towers are adaptable, and can grow not only food but cannabis and other plants, and if buyers want to use them other purposes, that adds to the product’s appeal, Womack says.

Eden has also sold some towers to Harris County Precinct 2 and the city of Houston, as part of a project he says will turn food deserts throughout the area into “food prosperity zones.”

“Our goal is to be the farming equivalent of Boeing,” Womack says.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Fervo secures $421M in financing for Cape Station construction

fresh funding

Houston geothermal unicorn Fervo Energy has closed $421 million in non-recourse debt financing for the first phase of its flagship Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah.

Fervo believes Cape Station can meet the needs of surging power demand from data centers, domestic manufacturing and an energy market aiming to use clean and reliable power. According to the company, Cape Station will begin delivering its first power to the grid this year and is expected to reach approximately 100 megwatts of operating capacity by early 2027. Fervo added that it plans to scale to 500 megawatts.

The $421 million financing package includes a $309 million construction-to-term loan, a $61 million tax credit bridge loan, and a $51 million letter of credit facility. The facilities will fund the remaining construction costs for the first phase of Cape Station, and will also support the project’s counterparty credit support requirements.

Coordinating lead arrangers include Barclays, BBVA, HSBC, MUFG, RBC and Société Générale, with additional participation from Bank of America, J.P. Morgan and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, Limited, New York Branch.

“As demand for firm, clean, affordable power accelerates, EGS (Enhanced Geothermal Systems) is set to become a core energy asset class for infrastructure lenders,” Sean Pollock, managing director, project Finance at RBC Capital Markets, said in a news release. “Fervo is pioneering this step change with Cape Station, a vital contribution to American energy security that RBC is proud to support.”

The oversubscribed financing marks Cape Station’s shift from early-stage and bridge funding to a long-term, non-recourse capital structure, according to the news release.

“Non-recourse financing has historically been considered out of reach for first-of-a-kind projects,” David Ulrey, CFO of Fervo Energy, said in a news release. “Cape Station disrupts that narrative. With proven oil and gas technology paired with AI-enabled drilling and exploration, robust commercial offtake, operational consistency, and an unrelenting focus on health and safety, we have shown that EGS is a highly bankable asset class.”

Fervo continues to be one of the top-funded startups in the Houston area. The company has raised about $1.5 billion prior to the latest $421 million. It also closed a $462 million Series E in December.

According to Axios Pro, Fervo filed for an IPO that would value the company between $2 billion and $3 billion in January.

HETI members to take the stage at CERAWeek 2026 in Houston

The View from HETI

CERAWeek returns to Houston March 23–27, convening global industry leaders to explore the trends shaping the future of energy.

The Greater Houston Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) members will play a key role in this year’s program, contributing to discussions spanning digital innovation, power systems, decarbonization and workforce. Below are the sessions featuring HETI members throughout the week:

AI in Energy: Managing the Transformation
Monday, March 23 | 9:30-10:00 a.m.
Speakers: Hector Rocha, Accenture; Rebecca Hofmann, Blockchain For Energy; Paul Markwell, S&P Global

Scaling Innovation: Building the Ecosystem for the Next Energy Breakthroughs
Monday, March 23 | 10:30-11:10 a.m.
Speakers: Graham Gordon, Accenture; Carolyn Seto, S&P Global; Bernie Bulkin, Global Energy Infrastructure Plc; Georgina Campbell Flatter, Greentown Labs
Examines how partnerships across capital, policy and infrastructure can accelerate commercialization and scaling of breakthrough energy technologies.

Oil Strategies for a World in Transition
Monday, March 23 | 11:15-11:55 a.m.
Speakers: Olivier Le Peuch, SLB; Anders Opedal, Equinor; Vicki Hollub, Occidental; Atul Arya, S&P Global
Discusses how producers are adapting portfolio strategies to balance resilience, demand outlooks and transition pressures.

Gas: Growing Markets and New Players
Monday, March 23 | 12:00-12:40 p.m.
Speakers: Liz Westcott, Woodside Energy; Toby Rice, EQT Corporation; Shankari Srinivasan, S&P Global; Ryosuke Tsugaru, JERA CO., INC.

Advances in Exploration Technologies for Oil & Gas and Mining
Monday, March 23 | 1:30-2:10 p.m.
Speakers: Amy Callahan, Accenture; Hussein Shel, Amazon Web Services; Oscar Abbink, S&P Global
Highlights sensing, imaging and AI tools improving discovery efficiency and sustainability in exploration.

AI in Action: From Pilot to Profit
Monday, March 23 | 1:30-2:00 p.m.
Speakers: Shridevi Bale, Accenture; Paul Gruenwald, S&P Global
Shares lessons from scaling AI deployments beyond pilots into measurable operational value.

Power Networks: Collaborating to Meet Demand
Monday, March 23 | 2:15-2:55 p.m.
Speakers: Lawrence Coben, NRG Energy; Jim Murphy, Invenergy; Eduard Sala de Vedruna, S&P Global
Examines grid readiness and collaboration models needed to manage surging electricity demand.

New Phase of Gas: From Regional Security to Global Market Integration
Monday, March 23 | 3:00-3:40 p.m.
Speakers: Cederic Cremers, Shell; Balaji Krishnamurthy, Chevron; Kevin Gallagher, Santos; Mansoor Al Hamed, Mubadala Energy; Dave Ernsberger, S&P Global
Discusses LNG’s evolving role in global integration, energy security and future pricing structures.

Transforming Upstream: Pathways to Scaling New Technologies
Monday, March 23 | 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Speakers: Rami El Debs, Accenture; Trey Lowe, Devon Energy; Bader Al-Attar, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Explores adoption of advanced digital and automation technologies in upstream operations.

Leadership Dialogue
Tuesday, March 24 | 9:00-9:20 a.m.
Speakers: Wael Sawan, Shell; Daniel Yergin, S&P Global

One Grid, One ASEAN: Building a Shared Clean Energy Future
Tuesday, March 24 | 10:30-11:10 a.m.
Speakers: Akihiro Ondo, Mitsubishi Power; Gauri Jauhar, S&P Global

Harmonizing Carbon Accounting: Charting a Path Forward
Tuesday, March 24 | 10:40-11:20 a.m.
Speakers: Edward Stones, Dow; Sasha Mackler, ExxonMobil; Musaab Al-Mulla, Saudi Aramco; Kevin Birn, S&P Global
Examines efforts to standardize emissions accounting to improve comparability and market transparency.

Global Exploration Revival: Lessons and New Strategies
Tuesday, March 24 | 11:30-12:10 p.m.
Speakers: John Ardill, ExxonMobil; Dan Pratt, S&P Global; Guido Brusco, Eni

How Will AI Change the Game for Energy Profitability?
Tuesday, March 24 | 12:20-1:00 p.m.
Speakers: Rakesh Jaggi, SLB; Jim Masso, Honeywell; Atul Arya, S&P Global; Darryl Willis, Microsoft; Renata Baruzzi, Petrobras
Examines how AI and cloud technologies could reshape cost structures and performance across energy systems.

Balancing Act: Price, Reliability and the Global Call on U.S. Energy
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:35-3:15 p.m.
Speakers: Stéphane Michel, TotalEnergies; Eleonor Kramarz, S&P Global; Matt Schatzman, NextDecade; Brian Falik, Mercuria Energy America
Explores tensions between domestic supply reliability and global export opportunities.

The Future of Upstream: Matching Capital Discipline with Opportunity
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:35-3:15 p.m.
Speakers: Richard Jackson, Occidental; Philippe Mathieu, Equinor; Niloufar Molavi, PwC; Bob Fryklund, S&P Global

Transforming the Energy Industry: How Will Technology Change Business Models?
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:35- 3:15 p.m.
Speakers: Ryder Booth, Chevron; Peter Terwiesch, ABB; Atul Arya, S&P Global
Examines digital transformation and new partnership models reshaping energy value chains.

Sustainable Solutions: Partnership, Technology and Innovative Paths
Tuesday, March 24 | 3:25-4:05 p.m.
Speakers: Barry Engle, ExxonMobil; Luis Cabra, Repsol; Leanne Todd, S&P Global; Roeland Baan, Topsoe
Highlights collaborative approaches to deploying scalable decarbonization solutions.

The Future of Refining: Resilience, Innovation and Low-Carbon Pathways
Tuesday, March 24 | 3:25-4:05 p.m.
Speakers: Amber Russell, bp; Kurt Barrow, S&P Global; Martijn van Koten, OMV; Atsuhiko Hirano, Idemitsu; Magnus Heimburg, VAROPreem
Explores how refining and supply chains are adapting to policy, demand and emissions pressures.

Reinventing Business Strategies: Thriving in the New Energy Economy
Tuesday, March 24 | 4:15-4:55 p.m.
Speakers: Muqsit Ashraf, Accenture; Philippe Frangules, S&P Global; Sushil Purohit, Gentari Sdn Bhd
Discusses evolving strategies integrating new technologies and markets.

Creating AI-Ready Organizations
Tuesday, March 24 | 4:20-5:05 p.m.
Speakers: David Rabley, Accenture; Gwenaelle Avice-Huet, Schneider Electric; Dave Ernsberger, S&P Global; Rob Schapiro, Microsoft; Geoffrey Parker, Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth
Focuses on workforce, leadership and infrastructure required for effective AI adoption.

Meeting Power Demand for Data Centers
Wednesday, March 25 | 10:30-11:20 a.m.
Speakers: Karim Amin, Siemens Energy; Ed Baine, Dominion Energy; Douglas Giuffre, S&P Global; Ingmar Ritzenhofen, RWE Supply & Trading and RWE Clean Energy; Amanda Peterson Corio, Google; Jim Shield, Invenergy
Discusses strategies for aligning infrastructure, policy and markets to meet data-center load growth.

Where Agentic AI Is Now and What Comes Next
Wednesday, March 25 | 10:30-11:00 a.m.
Speakers: Tathagata Basu, Honeywell; Ben Wilson, Amazon Web Services, Bhavesh Dayalji, S&P Global

People Power: Strategic Human Capital in a New Energy Era
Wednesday, March 25 | 10:40-11:20 a.m.
Speakers: Jessica Van Singel, Accenture
Examines workforce strategy alignment with innovation and competitiveness goals.

Global Energy Pathways in the Age of Abundance
Wednesday, March 25 | 11:45-12:35 p.m.
Speakers: Gareth Ramsay, bp; Atul Arya, S&P Global; Olu Verheijen, Office of the President of the Federal Public of Nigeria

Agentic AI: Embracing Autonomy
Thursday, March 26 | 10:00-10:30 a.m.
Speakers: Trygve Randen, SLB; Uwa Airhiavbere, Microsoft; Eric Hanselman, S&P Global
Examines governance and reliability considerations as autonomous AI systems expand in energy.

The Changing Mix of U.S. Power Generation: Gas, Renewables, Coal, Nuclear and Beyond
Thursday, March 26 | 10:30-11:20 a.m.
Speakers: Bill Newsom, Mitsubishi Power; Douglas Giuffre, S&P Global; John-Paul Jones, Urenco Enrichment Company; Leslie Duke, Burns & McDonnell; Mike DeBock, NextEra Energy Resources
Explores how policy and technology shifts are reshaping generation portfolios.

Large Load Growth: Reshaping the Future of Power
Thursday, March 26 | 11:10-11:50 a.m.
Speakers: Robert Gaudette, NRG Energy; Petter Skantze, NextEra Energy Resources; Douglas Giuffre, S&P Global; Peter Lake, National Energy Dominance Council
Discusses planning and market responses to large-scale electricity demand.

Interconnecting America: The Grid’s Last Mile
Thursday, March 26 | 12:00-12:40 p.m.
Speakers: Tim Holt, Siemens Energy; Philippe Frangules, S&P Global; David Brast, TC Energy; David Rosner, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

AI: Driving Performance in the Power Sector
Thursday, March 26 | 3:05-3:45 p.m.
Speakers: Dak Liyanearachchi, NRG Energy; Hanna Grene, Microsoft; Douglas Giuffre, S&P Global
Explores AI use cases improving grid management and forecasting.

Digital Twins: The AI Enabler for Multiple Sectors
Thursday, March 26 | 4:30-5:10 p.m.
Speakers: Sacha Abinader, Accenture; Oscar Abbink, S&P Global
Examines digital twins enabling predictive maintenance and AI training environments.

View the full CERAWeek agenda.

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This article originally appeared 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.

Houston data center capacity could more than double by 2028, CBRE report says

data analysis

The Houston market could more than double its data center capacity by the end of 2028, a new report indicates.

The report, published by commercial real estate services provider CBRE, says greater demand for data center capacity in the Houston area is being fueled by energy companies, along with large-scale cloud services and AI-driven tenants.

In the second half of 2025, the Houston market had 154 megawatts of data center capacity, which was on par with capacity in the second half of 2024. Another 28.5 megawatts of capacity was under construction during that period.

“Multiple providers are advancing new builds and redevelopments, including significant power upgrades to recently purchased buildings, underscoring long-term confidence even as the market works through elevated vacancy and uneven absorption,” CBRE says of Houston’s data center presence.

One project alone promises to significantly boost the Houston market’s data center capacity. Data center developer Serverfarm plans to use part of a $3 billion credit facility to build a 250-acre, AI-ready data center campus near Houston with a potential capacity of more than 500 megawatts. The Houston campus and two other Serverfarm projects are already leased to unidentified tenants, according to CoStar.

A 60-megawatt, AI-ready Serverfarm data center is under construction in Houston. The $137 million, 438,000-square-foot project, located near the former headquarters of computer manufacturer Compaq, is supposed to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

Data Center Map identifies 59 data centers in the Houston area managed by 36 operators, including DataBank, Data Foundry, Digital Realty, IBM, Logix Fiber Networks, Lumen and TRG Datacenters. That compares with more than 180 data centers in Dallas-Fort Worth, more than 50 in the San Antonio area and 40 in the Austin area.

Texas is home to more than 400 data centers, according to Data Center Map.

In November, Google said it’s investing $40 billion to build AI data centers in West Texas and the Texas Panhandle.

“This is a Texas-sized investment in the future of our great state,” Gov. Greg Abbott said when Google’s commitment was announced. “Texas is the epicenter of AI development, where companies can pair innovation with expanding energy. Google's $40 billion investment makes Texas Google's largest investment in any state in the country and supports energy efficiency and workforce development in our state.”

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