More than 40 energy startups from across the globe participated in the third annual Energy Venture Day Pitch Competition, hosted by the Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) alongside Rice Alliance for Technology & Entrepreneurship and TEX-E.  The competition, held during S&P’s 2024 CERAWeek, was an opportunity for the Partnership to convene key energy industry members and investors to spotlight innovative energy transition startups.  “This event showcases what Houston is all about,” said Bobby Tudor, HETI Chair. “If you have a promising technology with the potential to create real impact, Houston is the place where that idea reach scale. In this region, new companies can connect with our incumbent industry, solve mutual challenges, and deploy novel solutions.”  Startups competed across four categories: carbon capture use and storage, energy storage, hydrogen solutions and people’s choice. The winners were selected by a panel of industry experts and investors, including Halliburton Labs, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Chevron Technology Ventures and more. Here are the winners:  CCUS  Ardent – Delaware-based startup that develops cost-effective and energy-efficient advanced membrane technologies to accelerate decarbonization across heavy industries like cement, steel and petrochemical.  Energy Storage  SunGreenH2 – Singapore-based startup that is cultivating high-performance electrolysers to significantly boost hydrogen production efficiency and reduce costs, aiming for affordable green hydrogen on a global scale.  Hydrogen Solutions  Thiozen – California-based spinout from MIT working to commercialize a process that can produce hydrogen from sour gas waste streams.  People’s Choice  Solidec – Houston-based spinout from Rice University that is developing a platform technology that captures carbon and generates chemicals without fossil fuels, using only air, water, and electricity.  Learn more about how Houston is leading the global energy transition and explore Houston's thriving innovation ecosystem. 

(HOUSTON) – The Greater Houston Partnership, through its Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI), and Argonne National Laboratory have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to leverage Houston’s top research institutions, energy and industrial leadership, infrastructure, and technical expertise to catalyze the development of commercial-scale solutions for the energy transition. This partnership aims to enable greater collaboration across academia, local industry (existing and startup), private investors and government to accelerate the translation, evaluation and pre-commercialization of breakthrough carbon reduction technologies essential to achieving both climate and economic development goals. The MOU will enable Houston to capitalize on its nascent, but fast-growing, energy innovation ecosystem and stimulate place-based innovation and commercialization through the creation of a decarbonization center of excellence. “The U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories have long been the backbone of research, development, and demonstration for the energy sector. The Partnership and HETI, working with our industry members, business community and top research and academic institutions, in collaboration with Argonne, will work across our energy innovation ecosystem to drive this critical effort for our region,” said Bobby Tudor, CEO of Artemis Energy Partners and Chair of HETI. “A decarbonization center of excellence in Houston is the missing link in the region’s coordinated approach to advancing critical energy transition technologies needed to mitigate the risks associated with climate change, while also promoting economic growth and job creation for the region.” Achieving a net-zero emissions economy by 2050 will require carbon management at scale, both to abate greenhouse gas emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors and to remove carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. is making unprecedented investments in carbon management R&D to de-risk technologies needed in the short term, invent the technologies needed in the medium term, and discover the fundamental phenomena that will lead to transformative technologies in the long term. “Partnerships are essential to realizing net zero goals,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. “We are pleased to extend DOE national laboratory expertise and work with HETI to focus the region’s considerable energy and industrial assets, infrastructure, and talent on broad commercial deployment of needed technologies.” Learn how the Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) is leading the energy transition.