Can Houston foster new energy technologies?
Business // Energy
Ryan Maye Handy
Feb. 5, 2018 Updated: Feb. 6, 2018 8:07 a.m.
The sun sets behind several 285ft tall 2.5 MW Clipper wind turbines at the BP Sherbino Mesa II Wind Farm, Monday, Feb. 20, 2012, in Fort Stockton. After cutting its solar program last year, BP is beefing up its investments into wind energy and recently launched its fourth Texas wind farm, in Fort Stockton. On 20,000 acres in Pecos County, the Sherbino II farm has 60 wind turbines to generate enough electricity to power more than 175,000 homes. ( Michael Paulsen / Houston Chronicle )Michael Paulsen/Staff
The Greater Houston Partnership has convened a group of alternative energy companies to help it address how Houston can better foster growth for wind, solar, batteries and electric car technologies.
During a Jan. 19 given at the partnership's annual meeting, CEO Bob Harvey said that the city can expect growth in renewable energy in the next few years and that the business community needs to be ready for it.
"As we work to maintain our lead in traditional energy, we must ramp up our efforts to develop and attract alternative energy companies to complement the work we are already doing," Harvey said. "As the global energy mix evolves, we must ensure that we maintain our role as the Energy Capital of the World, including 'new energy'."
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Days later, on Jan. 22, the partnership held a meeting for some of Houston's major renewable energy players. Harvey declined to comment on the topic of the meeting, and declined to provide a list of companies that attended it. The companies are expected to meet again "soon" but the partnership declined to provide more details.
Houston is home to a handful of larger renewable energy companies, including Pattern Energy, solar company Sunnova and Clean Line Energy Partners, which builds transmission lines for renewable energy projects. More than a hundred companies involved in some aspect of the solar industry have offices in Houston, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry trade group.
Houston is also the North American headquarters of Portuguese EDP Renewables, which has developed more than 6,200 megawatts of renewable energy projects in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
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Ryan Maye Handy covers the regulation of utilities and oil and gas in Texas. She follows the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state's oil and gas regulator, and the Public Utility Commission, and tracks trends in renewable energy growth across the state. She came to the Houston Chronicle in October 2016 from Colorado, where she worked as a reporter for nearly six years covering energy and the environment, county government and natural disaster recovery.