Houston to host cleantech collaboration with delegation from Belgium

this week

Houston-based energy tech-oriented companies will be invited to the pitching event for Antwerp and Houston Cleantech Entrepreneurs from 2 to 5 pm on December 3 at The Ion. Photo via the Ion

A delegation of nine startups from Antwerp, Belgium, along with industry experts will visit Houston from December 2 through December 6, which will include The Greater Houston Partnership, Greentown Labs, The Ion, and The Cannon.

The delegation will represent cleantech, sustainable chemistry, and energy tech sectors to engage with Houston’s energy transition ecosystem and identify collaboration and investment opportunities.

Houston-based energy tech-oriented companies will be invited to the pitching event for Antwerp and Houston Cleantech Entrepreneurs from 2 to 5 pm on December 3 at The Ion. Interested entrepreneurs can register at this link.

Antwerp and Houston are considered two of the world's largest petrochemical hubs, and also part of the leading innovators in the cleantech, sustainable chemistry, and energy tech sectors. The event will be organized by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, BlueChem (an Antwerp-based sustainable chemistry incubator), the city of Antwerp, and Flanders Investment and Trade.

“Antwerp and Houston are known for their ports and petrochemical industries, but fewer people realize the remarkable cleantech, sustainable chemistry, and energytech ecosystems that have emerged around these hubs,” Nathalie Mathys, head of office at FIT Houston, says in a news release.

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges is known for innovating new technologies, which includes 5G, digital twins, artificial intelligence, drones, and advanced sensors. Antwerp has over 350 startups and nine incubators and accelerators.

“This delegation visit highlights the potential for collaboration between two of the most dynamic regions in these fields, paving the way for a cleaner, more sustainable future,” adds Mathys.

Navigating the energy transition is a relay race, and the baton is in Houston, says this energy executive. Photo courtesy of SCS

O&G exec: Houston is where the future of energy is taking shape

Q&A

Earlier this month, a West Texas-based oilfield equipment provider announced that it was opening an office in the Ion Houston. It's all a part of the company's energy transition plan.

SCS Technologies, based in Big Spring, Texas, has a new strategy and innovation-focused office in the Ion, the company announced last week. The company, which provides CO2 capture measurement and methane vapor recovery equipment for the energy, industrial, and environmental sectors, also announced René Vandersalm as the new COO.

These are just the latest moves for the company as the world moves away from hydrocarbons and toward a greener future, CEO Cody Johnson tells EnergyCapital, explaining that he recognizes Houston has a role in the energy transition.

"This is a relay race – a race that has already started," he says. "Houston is the place where the baton will be handed off – it’s the place where the race is occurring. SCS Technologies is determined to be part of this solution dreamed of and planned in Houston and then executed in the Permian Basin, where we call home."

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Johnson weighs in on the new office and the future of his company.

EnergyCapital: How has SCS’s business evolved amid the energy transition?

Cody Johnson: SCS Technologies was founded to design and fabricate customized Lease Automated Custody Transfer units in the Permian Basin. These LACT units were used primarily to measure the quality and quantity of crude oil at all points of custody transfer. Essentially, SCS Technologies produced the premier "crude cash registers" for the Permian Basin.

As the oil and gas industry has adapted into the energy transition industry, our customers and the communities we operate in have a growing need for SCS Technologies to use our design and fabrication of measurement skids to measure the quality and quantity of CO₂ or to design and fabricate methane — and other vent gases — Vapor Recovery Units. SCS Technologies’ design and fabrication expertise in measurement skids, pump skids, and compression skids, coupled with our Permian Basin based training and fabrication campus, ideally positioned us to answer the call to fill the expertise and capacity gap.

EC: How are you preparing for the future of energy?

CJ: Society has been powered for the past 100 years or so by the management of hydrocarbon molecules. The essential tools for that have been and continue to be oil rigs, pipelines, and refineries in large part. This has given society many benefits but at a price to the environment that isn’t sustainable. Over the next 50 years, society will complete a transition away from managing hydrocarbon molecules and towards managing electrons. Those electrons are created by wind, solar, geothermal, or nuclear processes and travel down copper wires. Managing this transition that is already occurring and working together to do it in the near-term future of energy.

As we execute this transition over the next several decades from managing molecules to managing electrons to provide energy, molecule management companies must find ways to reach net zero emissions in their management practices. This means primarily capturing and managing methane vapors and capturing and sequestering CO₂. This is starting in 2023 in a meaningful way and needs to continue past 2030 and probably past 2050 to have any chance to meet the globally shared social goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and stay below a maximum increase of 1.5 degrees C in global temperatures.

The clock is ticking, and we are behind. The largest molecule management infrastructure investment in history must happen for us to reach these goals. It's mission-critical as one of the three things we simply cannot fail at to achieve net zero by 2050. SCS Technologies is very focused on being an intentional part of the tremendous supply chain buildout to support the infrastructure buildout.

EC: How does the new office in the Ion support these plans?

CJ: SCS Technologies needs to collaborate with the brightest minds working on the energy transition challenges. To contribute meaningfully to the overall effort and to be the thought leader in the methane vapor recovery and CO₂ compression and measurement niche, we need to be at the heart of the energy transition collaboration community. That beating heart is the Ion in Houston.

EC: What role does your new COO, René Vandersalm, play in SCS evolving with the energy transition?

CJ: René is a proven executive in growing mission-critical design and fabrication capacity without sacrificing quality. René’s experience, capabilities, and global network will play a key role in our path forward.

EC: Based in West Texas, SCS has a growing presence in Houston. Why do you see Houston as a leader in the energy transition?

CJ: West Texas has an amazing group of oil and gas professionals and infrastructure. We are proud of that heritage and will always maintain our roots and foundation there. Houston has the only community of engineers, scientists, universities, companies, investors, and key professional service providers that can deliver on the buildout of the molecule management infrastructure required to buy the electron management infrastructure folks time to transition fully to green energy after 2050.

This is a relay race – a race that has already started. Houston is the place where the baton will be handed off – it’s the place where the race is occurring. SCS Technologies is determined to be part of this solution dreamed of and planned in Houston and then executed in the Permian Basin, where we call home.

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This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

SCS Technologies opened a new office in the Ion. Photo courtesy of the Ion

Texas oilfield equipment provider opens Houston office, names new COO amid energy transition growth

major moves

Big changes are happening at a Texas oilfield equipment provider. In the span of a few weeks, the company named a new C-level executive and announced a new strategic office.

SCS Technologies, based in Big Spring, Texas, has opened a new office in the Ion, a 266,000-square-foot innovation hub in Midtown, to focus on strategy and innovation. SCS provides CO2 capture measurement and methane vapor recovery equipment for the energy, industrial, and environmental sectors.

“Embracing Houston's pivotal role in the energy transition, the Ion has swiftly become the epicenter of innovative collaborations. For SCS Technologies, this marks an exciting opportunity to align our capabilities and technology with a diverse consortium of organizations working toward ambitious carbon-neutral goals,” says Cody Johnson, CEO of SCS Technologies, in a news release. “Looking ahead, we are invigorated by the boundless possibilities at the Ion, envisioning groundbreaking solutions and technologies that will unfold there.”

On July 20, SCS announced René Vandersalm as COO. Johnson says in a July 20 statement that the appointment comes at a time when "energy and industrial sectors are undergoing a considerable transformation of their processes and infrastructure to align with carbon-neutral goals."

Vandersalm previously worked for over 20 years at Thermon Manufacturing leading the company's heating solutions. In his new role, he says he will work within SCS "to design and produce the innovative compression and measurement systems our customers need to achieve emissions goals."

“It’s an exciting time as energy and industrial companies strive towards sustainable operations, all while delivering the energy and products that customers worldwide rely on,” Vandersalm continues in the release. “I am both excited and honored to collaborate with the talented and motivated SCS Technologies team as we make a significant impact in this industry-wide transition.”

SCS is partnered with New Orleans-based Black Bay Energy Capital, an energy-focused private equity fund.

The Ion has seen a flurry of activity when it comes to energy tenants. In March, United Kingdom-based Carbon Clean, opened its US headquarters in the Ion as it expands nationally. In April, the Ion named several other new tenants, which included industrial software company Cognite, robotics tech provider Nauticus, and more. These companies join Chevron, which officially opened its new outpost in 2022 after being announced as a founding partner in 2020. ExxonMobil is also a founding partner.

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Geothermal exec on Houston expansion, commercialization and more

Q&A

Challenges in the energy transition often center around two questions: Where will organizations find the resources? And how will projects be financed?

XGS Energy's next-gen closed-loop geothermal well architecture addresses both issues head-on. The California-based company saw massive growth in the Houston market last year and recently completed a 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas, marking a major milestone for its technology's commercialization and potential for scale.

In an interview with EnergyCapital, Axel-Pierre Bois, XGS's Chief Technology Officer, shares what drew him to the geothermal space, why XGS is expanding in Houston and what the company's plans are for the year ahead.

How does XGS Energy's technology address the biggest challenges in geothermal energy?

XGS Energy is developing a geothermal system that decouples geothermal energy from its traditional dependence on water and geology to deliver affordable, clean energy anywhere there is hot rock.

Historically, geothermal resources have been hard to locate, as conventional systems require the overlap of hot rock, porous and permeable geology, and abundant water to produce energy, limiting their potential to a few select hot spots worldwide. Instead of relying on an underground fracture network that drives the geology and water requirements, the base component of XGS’s system is a single well, in which fluid is pumped to a hot rock resource and then returned to the surface through a tube-in-shell design, creating a sealed, closed loop. This allows XGS to produce geothermal energy anywhere where there is hot rock, unlocking terawatt-scale potential in the U.S. alone.

Geothermal systems have also struggled to secure project financing, as many systems have historically faced high levels of unplanned cost risk due to factors including water loss and production uncertainty. XGS’s sealed, closed-loop system ensures that it can provide reliable, predictable electricity throughout its lifespan. XGS also boosts the cost-competitiveness of its system through our major innovation, a proprietary thermally conductive materials system that is installed downhole around each well, increasing the heat transferred to the closed-loop system by 30-50%.

What has drawn you to a career in the geothermal energy space?

I have been in the subsurface industry for over 30 years, developing technical solutions for companies in the fields of geosciences, underground storage, upstream oil and gas, and geothermal heat harvesting to help improve their overall economic, ethical and environmental footprints. In 2009, I founded Curistec, a technology company providing research, engineering and technical services for geomechanics, wellbore integrity, well abandonment, cement design and cement and rock testing. A few years back, Curistec assisted with the Iceland Deep Drilling Project, helping to develop cement formulations for superhot geothermal well applications to enable drilling in high-temperature environments. As I looked toward the future, it became clear that next-generation geothermal technologies would transform the geothermal energy industry and open new markets worldwide. Curistec had been working closely with the XGS Energy team as technology partners for several years, so joining the team directly to help shape the technology development was an exciting opportunity to help develop and deploy a new system to unlock the full terawatt-scale potential of geothermal energy.

Tell us about the 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas completed in 2024 — what all did you and your team learn from the test?

Our 100-meter field demonstration in central Texas marked a significant step in our progress toward deploying geothermal energy in a commercial setting. With this field operation, we successfully demonstrated our ability to mix, pump and place our thermally conductive materials system at a commercial scale, using off-shelf tools and technologies. This was a significant milestone, taking us from theoretical models and laboratory tests to field-scale operations, proving that our novel geothermal system is operationally viable in real-world well conditions.

The completion of the Texas field demonstration advanced XGS into the new wave of geothermal innovators that are putting real steel in the ground. In 2024, we kicked off construction at our commercial-scale demonstration in California and are excited to share updates in the year ahead.

Last year, XGS Energy leased over 10,000 square feet of office space in Memorial City. How has Houston's business community and opportunities benefitted the company?

Houston, the epicenter of the oil and gas industry, has become a hub of energy innovation, offering attractive incentives for growing companies like XGS. The region’s workforce, which is home to some of the best subsurface engineers and operational talent in the energy sector, was a key factor for XGS when we were planning our operational roadmap. This expertise, paired with proximity to our partners in the field services industries, like cementing and drilling, is both apracticaland tactical advantage for XGS.

We’ve built a strong technical and operational team here at XGS, with experience from the oil and gas industry, utilities and power project developers. XGS is planning for continued growth in the Houston area, leveraging the region’s leading engineering and operational workforce and its intensifying interest in supporting the energy transition.

What are XGS Energy's goals for 2025?

In 2024, the XGS Energy team made significant progress toward our goal of providing clean, round-the-clock energy with our solid-state geothermal system. In 2025, XGS Energy will be focused on deploying its geothermal system at a commercial scale, starting with the completion of our full-scale prototype in California. XGS will also continue accelerating our commercial traction, expanding our already robust and highly differentiated geothermal resource evaluation toolkit, advancing our global project pipeline, and growing our team to strengthen our operational capability and capacity.

Environmentalists say Trump's energy order would subvert Endangered Species Act

In The News

Environmental groups concerned about loss of protections for vanishing animals see one of President Donald Trump’s early executive orders as a method of subverting the Endangered Species Act in the name of fossil fuel extraction and corporate interests.

Trump declared an energy emergency via executive order earlier this week amid a promise to “drill, baby, drill.” One section of the order states that the long-standing Endangered Species Act can’t be allowed to serve as an obstacle to energy development.

That language is a pathway to rolling back protections for everything from tiny birds like the golden-cheeked warbler to enormous marine mammals like the North Atlantic right whale, conservation groups said Wednesday. Some vowed to fight the order in court.

The Endangered Species Act has been a hurdle for the development of fossil fuels in the U.S. for decades, and weakening the act would accelerate the decline and potential extinction of numerous endangered species, including whales and sea turtles, said Gib Brogan, a campaign director with conservation group Oceana.

“This executive order, in a lot of ways, is a gift to the oil and gas industry and is being sold as a way to respond to the emergency declaration by President Trump,” Brogan said. “There is no emergency. The species continue to suffer. And this executive order will only accelerate the decline of endangered species in the United States.”

The Endangered Species Act has existed for more than 50 years and is widely credited by scientists and environmentalists with helping save iconic American species such as the bald eagle from extinction. A key section of the act directs federal agencies to work to conserve endangered and threatened species and use their authorities to protect them.

Trump's order declaring a national energy emergency took direct aim at the authority provided by the Endangered Species Act. It orders federal departments to treat energy production as an emergency, which could help expedite approval of energy projects that might otherwise be held up.

The order also convenes a committee to “identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure specifically deriving from implementation of the ESA or the Marine Mammal Protection Act,” another landmark conservation law. It states the committee could consider regulatory reforms, including “species listings,” as part of its work.

The Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment on the executive order. The order defines energy mostly as fossil fuels such as crude oil and and coal and does not include renewable energies such as wind power. It also states that energy production is an emergency because “an affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation.”

While environmentalists herald the Endangered Species Act as a landmark law, pro-development and free market interests have long criticized it for holding up the building of energy, infrastructure, housing and other projects. Some, including the influential Heartland Institute, applauded Trump's declaration of an energy emergency this week.

Conservatives have also decried the Endangered Species Act as inefficient. It took the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service years to follow the process of potentially delisting the golden-cheeked warbler, a small songbird that breeds only in the forests of central Texas, said Connor Mighell, an attorney with Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free market research institute.

Trump's executive order could help stop the Endangered Species Act from resulting in drawn-out permitting processes and lengthy litigation, said Brent Bennett, energy policy director for Texas Public Policy Foundation.

“We're hoping that can improve some of the permitting processes and remove some of these barriers,” Bennett said.

But the act is critical to maintaining species threatened with extinction, environmentalists said. They cite whales such as the North Atlantic right whale, which numbers less than 400 and is vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglement in fishing gear, as an example of an animal that must be protected under the act. The Rice's whale, which numbers even fewer and is vulnerable to disruption from oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, is another prime example, environmentalists said.

The nation's symbol, the bald eagle, is a perfect example of the importance and effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act, said Andrew Bowman, president of the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife.

“President Trump’s election to office did not come with a mandate to deny Americans a clean and healthy environment or destroy decades of conservation successes that have ensured the survival and recovery of some of America’s most iconic species, including the bald eagle, which was newly named our country’s national bird and is only with us today thanks to the Endangered Species Act," Bowman said.

Texas ranks as No. 2 manufacturing hub in U.S., behind only California

by the numbers

Texas ranks among the country’s biggest hubs for manufacturing, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by Chinese manufacturing components supplier YIJIN Hardware, puts Texas at No. 2 among the states when it comes to manufacturing-hub status. California holds the top spot.

YIJIN crunched data from the U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade Administration, and National Association of Manufacturers to analyze manufacturing activity in each state. The study weighed factors such as number of manufacturing establishments, number of manufacturing employees, total value of manufacturing output, total manufacturing exports and manufacturing’s share of a state’s gross domestic product.

Here are Texas’ figures for those categories:

19,526 manufacturing establishments
847,470 manufacturing employees
Total manufacturing output of $292.6 billion
Total manufacturing exports of $291.9 billion
11.3 percent share of state GDP

According to Texas Economic Development & Tourism, the state’s largest manufacturing sectors include automotive, tech, petroleum, chemicals, and food and beverage.

“The Lone Star State is truly a manufacturing powerhouse,” the state agency says.

In an October speech, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the state’s robust manufacturing industry.

“We are proud that Texas is home to a booming manufacturing sector,” he said. “Thanks to our strong manufacturing sector, ‘Made in Texas’ has never been a bigger brand.”

Houston is a cornerstone of Texas’ manufacturing industry. The region produces more than $75 billion worth of goods each year, according to the Greater Houston Partnership. That makes Houston the second-ranked U.S. metro area for manufacturing GDP. The more than 7,000 manufacturing establishments in the area employ over 223,000 people.

“As one of the most important industrial bases in the world, Houston has access to many global markets thanks to its central location within the U.S. and the Americas,” the partnership says.

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