Leading the nation in both solar generation and wind capacity, it is undeniable that Texas has become the epicenter for renewable energy. As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston has been at the forefront of the state’s success, consistently winning bids for major projects.  According to the Partnership’s Houston Facts report, the region’s renewable energy industry accounted for nearly 13,000 jobs in 2022. To bolster growth in this sector and enhance Houston’s leadership in the global energy transition, the Greater Houston Partnership is actively working to attract renewable energy companies to the region, facilitating relocation and expansion projects. According to a Partnership analysis, the organization saw a 400% increase in the number of energy transition projects it won between 2018 and 2023.  The Partnership has recently assisted in several significant project wins for the region, including Renewable Parts, a wind turbine supply chain and refurbishment company. The company announced it selected Humble for the location of its new parts recirculation workshop to meet the growing demand in the North American market. The new facility is expected to create at least 18 jobs with $700,000 in capital expenditures.   "Being close to Houston was important for us as a business, as Texas has a thriving wind industry and an abundance of turbines that we have vast experience on," said Michael Forbes, Renewable Parts US President, "and Houston is widely considered the Energy Capital of the World - a great opportunity for us to find good people and collaborate with some of the many great businesses that are located there."  Renewable Parts is one of many international companies that have chosen to expand to the Houston suburbs, attracted by the ample space for large-scale facilities and the close proximity to Houston's major transportation hubs, including the Port of Houston and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.  "Renewable Parts' decision to establish their North American operations in Humble, Texas, is further testament to the Houston region's strong infrastructure, skilled workforce and unmatched industry expertise,” said Craig Rhodes, SVP Economic Development, Greater Houston Partnership. “This new facility will bolster the local economy and help drive the advancement of renewable energy in North America."  Triveni Turbines, an Indian company that manufactures, assembles and repairs rotating equipment for power generation was another major win for the Partnership last month. The company recently signed a lease for a 38,000 square feet office and manufacturing space in northwest Houston off FM 529. The facility will create 40 jobs and have the potential for further expansion in three to five years.  Additionally, Imperial Star Solar, a solar manufacturer with operations in Asia and Cambodia, will open its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Tomball at the Interchange 249 business park. According to the Houston Business Journal, the 384,500 square foot facility is expected to produce 1.5 gigawatts of solar panels annually and increase U.S. capacity to 5 gigawatts by 2025. The company also plans to strengthen the region’s manufacturing and technology workforce by partnering with local universities and colleges to offer an internship program.  Learn more about Houston’s leadership in Renewable Energy.  

A recent wave of decarbonization project announcements, including the expansion of a Norwegian company into Houston, demonstrates how the region has positioned itself as a hub for companies and collaborations advancing low-carbon solutions.  Capsol Technologies ASA, a Norwegian carbon capture and storage company focused on capturing carbon from gas turbines, has announced the opening of an office in Houston. The company’s CEO Wendy Lam told the Houston Business Journal that Houston’s strong relationship with Norway, the region’s infrastructure and access to talent were key factors in their decision to move to Houston. Lam also cited the favorable U.S. policies that are making CCS technology more financially viable than in Europe.  One of the region’s biggest projects is a joint venture involving Chevron, Equinor and TotalEnergies called the Bayou Bend carbon capture and storage project along the Texas Gulf Coast between Houston and Port Arthur. Bayou Bend has the potential to become one of the largest CCS sites in the country for industrial emitters, with an underground storage capacity of one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Worley, an Australia-based engineering firm with its primary U.S. office in Houston, has been chosen to design and evaluate CO2 gathering, handling and sequestration facilities for the project.  Chevron, a partner in the region’s HyVelocity Hub, is investigating the potential to integrate its hydrogen efforts with the Bayou Bend CCS project, though no official announcements have been made.  Ørsted and ExxonMobil, fellow partners in the HyVelocity Hub, were recently selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its $6 billion Industrial Demonstrations Program to receive federal funding for their decarbonization projects.  A subsidiary of Denmark-based Ørsted, which opened its first Houston office earlier this year, could receive up to $100 million in DOE funding to support the development of the Star e-methanol plant located on the Texas Gulf Coast, which will use captured CO2 to create up to 300,000 metric tons of e-methanol annually.  Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, which relocated its corporate headquarters to the Houston region in 2022, could receive up to $331.9 million through its $6 billion Industrial Demonstrations Program for its Baytown Olefins Plant Carbon Reduction Project. It plans to utilize hydrogen rather than natural gas to produce ethylene.  Exxon has become more involved in CCS infrastructure since its acquisition of Denbury Inc. in 2023, which involved major assets including the largest CO2 pipeline network in the U.S. and ten onshore carbon sequestration sites.  A partnership with EnLink Midstream LLC is allowing Exxon to explore additional CCS opportunities along the Gulf Coast, including the Houston Ship Channel and the Port Arthur-Beaumont area, which are noted as being high sources for CO2 emissions.  This comes after the company’s proposed $100 billion carbon capture collaboration in the Houston area back in 2021. Exxon estimates that the proposed CCS hub could capture and store 50 million metric tons of CO2 annually by 2030 and 100 million metric tons by 2040.  Other major energy players such as SLB are making moves in the CCS space and looking to increase their investments in carbon capture.  In March, SLB announced an agreement to acquire majority ownership of Aker Carbon Capture, a Norwegian pure-play carbon capture company whose proprietary CCS technology serves broad range of industries, including cement, bio and waste-to-energy, gas-to-power, and blue hydrogen segments.  “For CCUS to have the expected impact on supporting global net-zero ambitions, it will need to scale up 100-200 times in less than three decades. We are excited to create this business with [Aker Carbon Capture] to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture technologies that will shift the economics of carbon capture across high-emitting industrial sectors,” said SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch in a press release.  Learn more about how Houston is leading the energy transition.