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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.

Here's what news trended this week on EnergyCapital. Photo via Getty Images

McKinsey makes acquisition, Shell slows solar, and more trending Houston innovation news

top stories

Editor's note: From recent M&A activity to a recent report on AI, these are the top headlines that resonated with EnergyCapital readers on social media and daily newsletter this week.

Shell shrinks renewable portfolio yet again with latest divestment

Shell’s Savion subsidiary, which the energy giant acquired in 2021, plans to sell about one-fourth of its solar generation and storage assets. Photo via shell.us

In a move aimed at focusing more on its oil and gas business, Houston-based Shell USA continues to scale back its wind and solar energy portfolio.

The Reuters news service reported February 29 that Shell’s Savion subsidiary, which the energy giant acquired in 2021, plans to sell about one-fourth of its solar generation and storage assets. These assets represent as much as 10.6 gigawatts of generation and storage capacity.

This development follows the completion in early February of deals for Kansas City, Missouri-based Savion to sell its 50 percent stake in a solar energy project in Ohio and for Houston-based Shell Wind Energy to sell its 60 percent stake in a wind farm in Texas. Continue reading.

Houston rises as emerging hub for $6B global AI in oil and gas industry, per new report

The research outfit says North America leads global AI growth in oil and gas, with Houston playing a pivotal role. Image via Shutterstock

Houston is emerging as a hub for the development of artificial intelligence in the oil and gas industry — a global market projected to be worth nearly $6 billion by 2028.

This fresh insight comes from a report recently published by ResearchAndMarkets.com. The research outfit says North America leads global AI growth in oil and gas, with Houston playing a pivotal role.

“With AI-driven innovation at its core, the oil and gas industry is set to undergo a profound transformation, impacting everything from reservoir optimization to asset management and energy consumption strategies — setting a new standard for the future of the sector,” says ResearchAndMarkets.com. Continue reading.

McKinsey acquires Houston-area co. to enhance sustainability services

According to McKinsey data, more than $3.5 trillion will be invested in green hydrogen, carbon capture, renewable energy, and other projects that are working toward net-zero transition by 2050. Photo via ses-estimating.com

A global management consulting company has executed on an acquisition key to its plans amid the energy transition.

McKinsey & Company announced the acquisition of Strategic Estimating Systems, a Sugar Land-based consulting firm specializing in cost estimation for oil, gas, and chemical process industries. The acquisition provides McKinsey with enhanced benchmarking capabilities across capital project management — especially within the energy transition. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"The capital projects ecosystem is presented with a once-in-a-generation chance to aid in transforming economies to achieve net zero," Justin Dahl, partner and global leader of McKinsey & Company's Capital Analytics, says. Continue reading.

Houston orgs name student, industry teams for CERAWeek pitch competition

Nearly 40 climatetech startups will pitch at this upcoming CERAWeek event from HETI, the Rice Alliance, and TEX-E. Photo by Natalie Harms

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy announced the 39 energy ventures that will pitch at 2024 Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition during this month's CERAWeek.

The ventures are focused on driving efficiency and advancements toward the energy transition and will each present a 3.5-minute pitch before venture capitalists, corporate innovation groups, industry leaders, academics, and service providers during CERAWeek's Agora program.

The pitch competition is divided up into the TEX-E university track, in which Texas student-led energy startups compete for $50,000 in cash prizes, and the industry ventures track. Continue reading.

Houston-based female business leader named changemaker amid energy transition

EDP Renewables North America announced its CEO Sandhya Ganapathy has been named to CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list.

A Houston renewable energy developer CEO has scored a prestigious spot on a list of changemakers.

EDP Renewables North America announced its CEO Sandhya Ganapathy has been named to CNBC’s inaugural Changemakers: Women Transforming Business list. Ganapathy was recognized for ESG and ED&I Initiatives while helping to advance the clean energy transition.

The new list recognizes female leaders at companies and philanthropic organizations that have achieved impactful financial and business milestones.

“Thank you to CNBC for recognizing the leadership and groundbreaking initiatives the women on this list have achieved,” the company said in a statement on LinkedIn. “As our renewable energy market sector continues to progress and expand, we will need everyone in our industry to be a #changemaker to ensure #reliable, #costeffective, #homegrown energy is accessible to all.” Continue reading.

Nearly 40 climatetech startups will pitch at this upcoming CERAWeek event from HETI, the Rice Alliance, and TEX-E. Photo by Natalie Harms

Houston orgs name student, industry teams for CERAWeek pitch competition

taking the stage

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative and the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy announced the 39 energy ventures that will pitch at 2024 Energy Venture Day and Pitch Competition during this month's CERAWeek.

The ventures are focused on driving efficiency and advancements toward the energy transition and will each present a 3.5-minute pitch before venture capitalists, corporate innovation groups, industry leaders, academics, and service providers during CERAWeek's Agora program.

The pitch competition is divided up into the TEX-E university track, in which Texas student-led energy startups compete for $50,000 in cash prizes, and the industry ventures track.

Teams competing in the TEX-E Prize track, many of which come from Houston universities, include:

  • AirMax, University of Texas at Austin
  • BeadBlocker, University of Houston
  • Carvis Energy Solutions, Texas A&M University
  • Coflux Purification, Rice University
  • Solidec, Rice University

Thirty-four companies will present within the industry ventures track, which is further subdivided into three industry tracks, spanning materials to clean energy. The top three companies from each industry track will be named. Click here to see the full list of companies and which investor groups will participate.

The pitch competition will be held Wednesday, March 20, at CERAWeek from 1-5 pm. An Agora pass is required to attend.

For those without passes, a pitch preview will be introduced to the programming for the first time this year. The preview will be held Tuesday, March 19, from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Ion. It's free to attend, but registration is required. Click here to register.

Last year, Houston-based Helix Earth Technologies took home the top TEX-E price and $25,000 cash awards. The venture, founded by Rawand Rasheed and Brad Husick from Rice University, developed high-speed, high-efficiency filter systems derived from technology originating at NASA.

David Pruner, the executive director of TEX-E joined the Houston Innovators Podcast last month. He discussed how the nonprofit is expanding opportunities for students at its five university partners—Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin. Listen to the episode below.

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

Why this organization is focused on cultivating the future of energy transition innovation

Q&A

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.

"Our mission is to create the next generation of energy transition climatetech entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs — they don’t all have to start companies," he says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Listen to the show below and read through a brief excerpt from the episode with Pruner.


EnergyCapital: Can you share a little bit about the origin of TEX-E?

David Puner: There were a variety of factories that led to its creation, but the seminal event was a piece of work that had been done for the Greater Houston Partnership by McKinsey on the future of Houston. It showed that if Houston isn't careful and doesn't make sure to go ahead and transition with this energy expansion we’re seeing, that they’re at risk of losing hundreds of thousands of jobs. If they catch the transition right and make the conversion to cleaner and low-carbon fuels, they can actually gain 1.4 million jobs.

It was this eye opener for everyone that we need to make sure that if the energy transition is going to happen, it needs to happen here so that Houston stays the energy capital of the world.

David Baldwin (partner at SCF Partners) literally at the meeting said, “listen I've got the beginning of the funnel — the universities, that’s where innovation comes from.” From that, TEX-E was born.

EC: How are you working with the five founding universities to connect the dots for collaboration?

DP: In the end, we have five different family members who need to be coordinated differently. The idea behind TEX-E is that there's plenty of bright students at each of these schools, and there's plenty of innovation going on, it's whether it can grow, prosper, and be sustainable.

Our main job is to look to connect everyone, so that an engineer at Texas A&M that has an idea that they want to pursue, but they don't know the business side, can meet that Rice MBA. Then, when they realize it's going to be a highly regulated product, we need a regulatory lawyer at UT — we can make all that happen and connect them.

At the same time, what we found is, no one school has the answer. But when you put them together, we do have most of the answer. Almost everything we need is within those five schools. And it's not just those five schools, it really is open to everyone.

EC: As you mentioned before, TEX-E started as a way for Houston to take the reins of its energy transition. What's the pulse on that progress?

DP: I spent the last decade building boards and hiring CEOs for all kinds of energy companies and there was the period I would say — pre-pandemic and a little bit into the pandemic — where not everybody was on board with climate change and the issue of carbon. The nice thing now is that’s fully in the rearview mirror. There’s not really a company of any size or a management team of any major entity that doesn’t fully believe they need to do something there.

The train has fully left the station — and picked up speed — on this whole issue of transition and climate. So, that’s been nice to see and create a lot of tailwinds.

———

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

David Pruner will lead the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E. Photo via LinkedIn

New leadership team named climate tech-focused organization for Texas college students

welcome aboard

A collaborative initiative between several colleges and Greentown Labs has named its inaugural executive director.

David Pruner will lead the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy, known as TEX-E, which is comprised of partners including Greentown Labs, MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and universities across Texas. Additionally, Julia Johansson was appointed chief of staff for TEX-E and will oversee operations and administration responsibilities.

“Dave is the ideal leader for TEX-E to build on the great work that’s been done to develop a robust entrepreneurial energy ecosystem across these five impressive universities in Texas and to directly inspire and support university students to pursue entrepreneurial careers that will power our clean energy future,” Greentown Labs CEO and President Kevin Knobloch says in a news release. “Dave’s expertise will have a tremendous impact on the strategy, evolution, and success of this ambitious and important program.”With over 30 years of experience within the energy, academic, and business worlds, Pruner will take the helm of the organization that launched in 2022 in collaboration with Rice University, Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University, University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin as its founding institutions.

“I am very excited about helping Houston and the state of Texas navigate the energy transition,” Pruner says in the release. “We are at a crucial pivot point for the industry and it will be essential for us to help create the next generation of energy transition entrepreneurs.

"An ecosystem in this area has been building and it will be our mission to inspire, equip, connect and accelerate these individuals and teams working with the universities to make it robust," he continues. "If we succeed we will assure Texas’s role as the leader in energy globally.”

Before this new role, Pruner held leadership positions at business management consulting firm Heidrick & Struggles and Wood Mackenzie, as well as other energy firms and in financial services companies including Bridgewater Associates and Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

The two new hires are based out of Greentown Labs Houston. The next role TEX-E hopes to fill is director of university engagement, which will lead programming, recruitment, and partner management for TEX-E.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

Greentown Labs opened applications for their TEX-E climatetech bootcamp. Photo courtesy of Greentown Labs

Greentown Labs calls for applicants from Texas universities for climatetech bootcamp

Back to Basics

Greentown Labs is calling for student entrepreneurs, faculty, and staff from Texas universities to enroll in their climatetech bootcamp.

The course is part of the Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy (TEX-E) program, a collaboration between The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, University of Houston, Rice University, and Prairie View A&M University—powered by Greentown Labs and MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. The free bootcamp will run from Sept. 22-24 at Greentown Labs and the deadline to apply is Aug. 27.

Participants will learn from faculty from several Texas universities and instructors from the Climate & Energy Ventures Course at MIT.

“Throughout the weekend, participants will learn from leading academic minds in the field of energy innovation, and they will work together on collaborative projects that could be the genesis of a new enterprise. They will leave the program with enhanced readiness to tackle one of the biggest problems humanity has ever faced,” reads a statement about the program.

TEX-E is seeking participants with interest in one or more areas within the intersection of energy and entrepreneurship:

  • Mobility and Transport
  • Energy
  • Food, Agriculture, and Land Use
  • Industry Manufacturing, and Resource Management
  • Built Environment
  • Financial Services
  • Climate Change Management and Reporting
  • GHG Capture, Removal, and Storage

Once the bootcamp is over, participants will join the TEX-E network and be eligible for follow-up opportunities, including: networking events, job postings, cross-learning with MIT, career fairs, on-campus events, and pitch competitions.

TEX-E previously sponsored a multi-round startup competition for Texas students who are creating companies focused on moving the energy transition forward. The winners were collectively awarded $50,000 in prizes.

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New York energy firm scoops up Houston’s Infinity Power Partners

m&a activity

Houston-based energy management and consulting firm Infinity Power Partners has been acquired by New York City-based Environ Energy, which also offers energy management and consulting services.

The deal creates a new “anchor segment” for Environ in the multifamily market. With the addition of Infinity Power’s roughly 2,000 clients in the multifamily sector, representing more than 1 million multifamily units under contract, Environ now has more than 8,000 U.S. clients in the commercial real estate, healthcare, manufacturing, education and government sectors.

“This acquisition continues to solidify our presence in key energy markets while aligning with founders who share our deep commitment to client success,” Environ CEO Chris Sternberg said in a news release.

Infinity Power co-founders and managing partners Nick Altman and Peter Selber have joined Environ, a portfolio company of investment firm 424 Capital. Altman and Selber founded Infinity Power in 2011.

“We built our business one relationship at a time,” Selber said, “with a strong commitment to the communities we serve. That same dedication is reflected in Environ’s approach — now delivered at scale.”

Altman says the acquisition is part of the “next chapter” in energy management. Energy management services help commercial customers reduce utility bills, improve equipment life, achieve green energy goals, and decrease risk tied to fluctuating energy prices.

“Energy management is a culture for continual improvement of energy performance and efficiency that’s integrated within an organization’s normal business practice,” according to the U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.

In all, Environ has made six acquisitions in the past 17 months.

Last year, Environ acquired another Houston-based energy management and consulting firm, CSD Energy Advisors. In that deal, Environ gained nearly 1,000 clients, including several Fortune 500 companies and three large industrial energy users in Texas. As part of the deal, CSD co-founders Andrew Barth and JB Sowyrda joined Environ.

Also last year, Environ purchased Carrollton-based energy advisory firm Rapid Power Management (RPM).

Houston's PowerBridge partners on 2GW Texas AI data center campus

data center venture

Houston-based PowerBridge has formed a joint venture with Denver-based Liberty Energy to develop large-scale data center campuses.

The joint venture’s initial focus will be PowerBridge’s Alpha Digital Campus, a 2-gigawatt data center operation planned for West Texas. PowerBridge sets up data center campuses to support AI and cloud computing. Liberty is an energy company whose Liberty Power Innovations subsidiary offers distributed power and energy storage services.

Houston-based investment firm Five Point Infrastructure LLC established PowerBridge last year, committing up to $1 billion in equity. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported Five Point is trying to raise $2.5 billion for a new fund targeting water management projects, natural gas treatment systems and data center sites.

Through Five Point subsidiary LandBridge, PowerBridge enjoys access to more than 275,000 acres for infrastructure development as well as low-cost natural gas.

The first phase of PowerBridge’s West Texas campus is expected to offer more than 300 megawatts of generation capacity, with the potential to add more capacity over time. The campus is scheduled to start delivering power in the fourth quarter of 2027.

“By aligning our powered-campus development assets with Liberty’s comprehensive power services and operational expertise, we are creating a model that can be scaled across future gigawatt-scale powered data center campuses in West Texas,” Alex Hernandez, founder and CEO of PowerBridge, said in a release.

Before joining PowerBridge in 2025, Hernandez led Cumulus Data and Talen Energy Corp., a provider of power and energy infrastructure. Amazon Web Services bought Cumulus Data, a subsidiary of Houston-based Talen, in 2024 for $650 million. Cumulus develops nuclear-powered data centers.

Hernandez sits on the board of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages about 90 percent of the state’s electrical load.

Liberty recently announced a partnership with Houston-based energy technology company SLB to support the expansion of data center capacity.

Energy AI startup chooses Houston for first U.S. office after $20M raise

welcome to houston

London-based AI firm Applied Computing has announced a $20 million Series A round and a new office in Houston.

The new Bayou City office is Applied Computing’s first in the United States and part of its North American expansion. The company is known for its Orbital AI platform, which is tailored for energy operations.

The funding round was led by Houston-based KBR Inc., with participation from San Francisco-based Databricks Ventures. KBR’s investment was first announced in March.

KBR and Applied Computing have also entered into a multi-year agreement to deliver exclusive AI products for the energy sector. KBR already has integrated Orbital into its INSITE 3.0 platform for energy projects, and is also using the product for ammonia production.

Applied Computing’s Orbital platform combines physics-grounded intelligence with models across chemical engineering, time-series forecasting and language, according to the company. The system analyzes sensor readings and can recognize a facility’s equipment constraints and operator activity. The platform can also allow technicians to run simulations of how a change to a facility could affect the rest of its operations.

According to TechCrunch, Applied Computing will use the $20 million to further explore projects and deployments with the energy sector, hire engineering and research positions, and continue to expand internationally, potentially into the Middle East.

The company is also working on deals with a major U.S. stream operator, TechCrunch reports. And Applied Computing shared on LinkedIn that it plans to announce its first partnership with a major European oil company in the coming weeks.

“Yesterday we showed Orbital live in deployments at our demo day at the Energy Institute in London,” Callum Adamson, CEO and co-founder of Applied Computing, posted on LinkedIn on July 16. “Today, we're announcing the capital to scale it globally as well as the launch of our new offices in Houston and Bangalore. In the weeks following, there will be more announcements on our progress, partnerships and deployments.”

The company opened its Bangalore offices in December.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, InnovationMap.com.

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