Houston company secures $100M for 'world’s largest geothermal energy plant'

loan guarenteed

Fervo Energy received $100 million loan for its Utah Cape Station project. Photo via fervoenergy.com

Houston-based geothermal energy company Fervo Energy has secured a $100 million bridge loan for the first phase of its ongoing project in Utah.

The loan came from an affiliate of Irvington, New York-based X-Caliber Rural Capital. Proceeds will support construction of Fervo’s Cape Station project, which is being touted as the world’s largest geothermal energy plant.

The first phase of Cape Station, which is on track to generate 90 megawatts of renewable energy, is expected to be completed in June 2026. Ultimately, the plant is supposed to supply 400 megawatts of clean energy by 2028 for customers in California.

“Helping this significant project advance and grow in rural America is a true testament to how investing in communities and businesses not only has local influence, but can have a global, long-lasting impact by promoting sustainability and stimulating rural economies,” Jordan Blanchard, co-founder of X-Caliber Rural Capital, says in a news release.

X-Caliber Rural Capital is an affiliate of commercial real estate financing company X-Caliber Capital Holdings.

Fervo says its drilling operations Utah’s Cape Station show a 70 percent reduction in drilling times, paving the way for advancement of its geothermal energy system.

Tim Latimer, co-founder and CEO of Fervo, says his company’s drilling advancements, purchase deals, transmission rights, permit approvals, and equipment acquisitions make Fervo “an ideal candidate” for debt financing. In May, Latimer joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the company's growth and latest project.

With a new office in downtown Houston, Fervo recently signed up one of the country’s largest utilities as a new customer and expanded its collaboration with Google.

To date, Fervo has raised $531 million in venture capital funding, per Crunchbase data.

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According to a new report, Houston is one of the top cities for funding for sustainability companies. Photo via Getty Images

Houston ranked a top market for attracting funding for sustainability-focused startups

by the numbers

From a financial standpoint, Houston appears to be a sustainable environment for sustainability-focused startups.

An analysis by PromoLeaf, a retailer of sustainable promotional products, that came out at the end of last year ranks Houston fourth among U.S. cities for the average funding raised by locally based startups in the sustainability sector, according to Crunchbase data.

Per the report, the Bayou City attracts $150.7 million in sustainability funding for startups. Ahead of Houston are Salt Lake City with $204.5 million; Santa Monica, California, with $154.3 million; and Fremont, California, with $153.4 million.

PromoLeaf’s analysis features cities where at least 20 companies are focused on sustainability.

The analysis indicates Houston has 20.6 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents. Ranking first in that regard is Boulder, Colorado (115 per 100,000 residents).

While Houston trails Boulder by a long distance, it fares well among the Texas cities in the analysis:

Austin, 26.2 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
Houston, 20.6 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
Midland, 18.8 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
Plano, 11.9 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
Dallas, 11 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
Fort Worth, 5.3 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents
San Antonio, 5.2 sustainability startups per 100,000 residents

PromoLeaf says more than 21,600 sustainability startups operate in the U.S. They’re in the renewable energy, recycling and pollution control, environmental engineering, green consumer goods, and environmental consulting industries.

The analysis shows Houston has:

13.7 renewable energy startups per 100,000 residents
5.8 recycling and pollution control startups per 100,000 residents
3.5 environmental engineering startups per 100,000 residents
2.9 environmental consulting startups per 100,000 residents
0.70 green consumer goods startups per 100,000 residents

According to the Greater Houston Partnership, renewable energy startups leading Houston’s energy transformation include Energy Transition Ventures, Fysikes Biosolutions, Ionada, Katz Water Technologies, Pressure Corp., and Renewell Energy.

“A dynamic business climate combined with growth in venture capital funding in Houston has created fertile ground for companies of all stages aiming to power our world through the global energy transition,” the partnership says. “As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston has become a hub for startups and venture capital firms investing in the region’s energy future.”

Outside the energy sector, Houston startups like Trendy Seconds also are making their mark in sustainability. The company runs an online marketplace where women can find preowned clothing or shop for new clothing from sustainable brands.

“Our ultimate goal is to make responsible consumption super easy,” Maria Burgos, founder of Trendy Seconds, told InnovationMap last year.

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This article originally ran on InnovationMap.

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Energy Tech Nexus announces international startups to pitch at Pilotathon

Ready, Set, Pitch

Energy Tech Nexus will host its Pilotathon and Showcase as part of Houston Energy & Climate Startup Week next Tuesday, Sept. 16, featuring insightful talks from industry leaders and pitches from an international group of companies in the clean energy space.

This year's event will center around the theme "Energy Access and Resilience." Attendees will hear pitches from nine Pilotathon pitch companies, as well as the 14 companies that were named to Energy Tech Nexus' COPILOT accelerator earlier this year.

COPILOT partners with Browning the Green Space, a nonprofit that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the clean energy and climatetech sectors. The Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN²) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory backs the COPILOT accelerator, where companies are tasked with developing pilot projects for their innovations.

The nine Pilotathon pitch companies include:

Ontario-based AlumaPower, which has developed a breakthrough technology that converts the aluminum-air battery into a "galvanic generator," a long-duration energy source that runs on aluminum as a fuel
Calgary-based BioOilSolv, a chemical manufacturing company that has developed cutting-edge biomass-derived solvents
Atlanta-based Cultiv8 Fuels, which creates high-quality renewable fuel products derived from hemp
Newfoundland-based eDNAtec Inc., a leader in environmental genomics that analyzes biodiversity and ecological health
Oregon-based Espiku Inc., which designs and develops water treatment and mineral extraction technologies that rely on low-pressure evaporative cycles
New York-based Fast Metals Inc., which has developed a chemical process to extract valuable metals from complex toxic mine tailings that is capable of producing iron, aluminum, scandium, titanium and other rare earth elements using industrial waste and waste CO2 as inputs
New Jersey-based Metal Light Inc., which is building a circular, solid metal fuel that will serve as a replacement for diesel fuel
Glasgow-based Novosound, which designs and manufactures innovative ultrasound sensors using a thin-film technique to address the limitations of traditional ultrasound with applications in industrial, medical and wearable markets
Calgary-based Serenity Power, which has developed a cutting-edge solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology

The COPILOT accelerator companies include:

Accelerate Wind
Aquora Biosystems Inc.
EarthEn
Electromaim
EnKoat
GeoFuels
Harber Coatings Inc.
Janta Power
NanoSieve
PolyQor Inc.
Popper Power
Siva Powers America
ThermoShade
V-Glass Inc.

Houston energy company to invest $1B in U.S. electric grid manufacturing

grid boost

Hitachi Energy, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, has earmarked more than $1 billion to manufacture infrastructure for the U.S. electric grid, which is coping with greater power demand from data centers and AI platforms.

Of that sum, $457 million is dedicated to building a power transformer factory in Virginia. Hitachi Energy said it’ll be the largest facility of its kind in the U.S.

“Power transformers are a linchpin technology for a robust and reliable electric grid and winning the AI race. Bringing production of large power transformers to the U.S. is critical to building a strong domestic supply chain for the U.S. economy and reducing production bottlenecks, which is essential as demand for these transformers across the economy is surging,” said Andreas Schierenbeck, CEO of Switzerland-based Hitachi Energy, which generates revenue of about $16 billion.

The Hitachi announcement aligns with various priorities of the Trump administration. The White House is promoting more U.S.-based manufacturing, more power to accommodate data centers and AI, and greater use of U.S. energy resources.

“If we are going to win the AI race, reindustrialize, and keep the lights on, America is going to need a lot more reliable energy,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

Texas still has its best solar days ahead of it, even as federal tax credit sunsets

Guest Column

If you follow energy policy, you already know that Congress repealed the 30% residential solar tax credit. This poses a significant challenge for continued growth in the market. It also provides an opportunity for the industry to grow in a smart, consumer-friendly way. That’s why in Texas, the story is what happens next: The state and the market are continuing to make going solar much simpler, better, and cheaper.

Policies are moving in the right direction. For example, starting this month, a bipartisan permitting reform takes effect that will cut red tape for home solar and batteries. It lets licensed third-party professionals review plans and perform inspections, requires agencies to post standardized rules and fees online, and allows homeowners to start work once those third-party approvals are submitted. It also shifts negligence liability to the third-party reviewer, thereby reducing municipal risk while accelerating safe, code-compliant installs. In plain English: fewer bottlenecks, faster installs, and lower “soft costs.”

As a result, Houston is already piloting the National Renewable Energy Lab’s free SolarAPP+ to auto-approve standard solar designs, which cuts roughly 12 days from typical timelines. Independent analyses estimate that these automated permitting rules could trim rooftop solar costs by thousands. In other words, even small, costless policy changes like this can save you almost as much money as the huge solar tax credit did, and these great reforms are happening all the time, and they make the process much more convenient and reliable.

While Texas is making solar simpler, it’s also helping consumers have a good experience when going solar. As of this month, Texas law now also requires solar salespeople to register with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The same bill standardizes contracts and provides for mandatory disclosures of upfront cost and financing terms. The whole solar industry benefits when customers have a good solar experience. Word of mouth is vital to keeping solar shining.

There's yet another pro-solar Texas law that's also going into effect this month: in addition to SB 1202 (streamlining solar permits) and SB 1036 (regulating solar sales tactics), the legislature is also supporting the dissemination of information about your options when going solar via SB 1697. You can read more about these three brand-new pro-solar state laws here.

The end of the solar tax credit is not the end of the solar industry. Far from it.

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Dori Wolf is Senior Texas Program Associate for Solar United Neighbors, a vendor and neutral nonprofit with more than 15 years helping people go solar. Their free Solar Help Desk walks you through the details. Also check out their Go Solar Guide and Solar Owner’s Manual.

Solar United Neighbors also helps you find the best retail electricity plan through its partnership with Texas Power Guide.

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