All sectors require innovation but, with major pressure for businesses to decarbonize their operations and embrace the green transition, the energy space is a hotbed for new thinking. Some key innovators in the broader energy space are Shell PLC (NYSE: SHEL), Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), Nextera Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) and Jericho Energy Ventures Inc (TSXV: JEV) (OTC: JROOF).
This innovation can come in a huge variety of different forms. Shell PLC is looking to modernize by embracing Web 3 and blockchain, expressing an openness to allowing this emerging tech to transform its operations. Meanwhile, Chevron heavily backs carbon capture technology as a way to help out in the fight towards net zero. NextEra Energy is incorporating a broad variety of renewables in its own innovation journey, from solar and wind through to hydrogen.
A business with a huge focus on hydrogen is Jericho Energy Ventures Inc (TSXV: JEV) (OTC: JROOF). This energy innovator has a portfolio of disruptive hydrogen inventions, key among them being its patented zero-emissions DCC™ hydrogen boilers, which target the massive commercial and industrial market. This solution allows these customers to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, offering a clean and eco-friendly source of steam for even hard-to-abate industries. The small-cap company is attracting attention from big players, having just announced a collaboration with a globally leading alcohol business to conduct a decarbonization study on implementation of its DCC™ boilers. The study will cover production facilities in four countries, allowing Jericho to demonstrate the viability of one of its innovative solutions to a global player. Proof of concept here could lead to some major customer wins for the company! This potential might be why some analysts are already branding this stock a BUY.
Oil major Shell PLC (NYSE: SHEL) is no stranger to energy innovation either. Like Jericho, it’s investing heavily in hydrogen, having allotted $1bn for hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects in 2024 and 2025. Additionally, it has turned to blockchain and other Web 3 technologies in order to modernize and increase the efficiency of its operations. For example, together with several other firms, the company launched a book-and-claim solution called Avelia which aims to help scale supply of sustainable aviation fuel. Furthermore, the business has invested in Web 3 energy start-up LO3, which aims to help consumers and businesses to find locally produced energy. Why is the company so focused on using emerging tech like blockchain to enhance its operations? It argues that these advancements allow it to “reimagine current processes, deliver cost savings, increase efficiencies and drive standardization across our processes and, indeed, across the entire energy industry”.
Another major oil and gas player is innovating too. Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), which is the second biggest oil company in the US by revenue, has been turning its efforts towards hydrogen energy and carbon capture. It even has a partnership with the US Department of Energy to explore renewable methods of sustainable hydrogen generation. Additionally, May 2022 saw the company announcing a carbon capture and storage project aimed at reducing the carbon intensity of its operations in San Joaquin Valley, California. Its interest in carbon capture has seen the business look beyond the mitigation of its own operations for new opportunities to implement these practices. For example, it has teamed up with a number of industry partners to help form the Houston CCS Alliance, which aims to annually capture and store up to 100 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide from industrial facilities by the year 2040.
NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE) is a business with the mission statement of providing customers with green American energy. It’s one of the largest US sustainable energy companies and has pushed boundaries in a number of different ways. For example, one of the business’s latest major announcements has seen it enter an agreement for an Oklahoma-based project aiming to decarbonize the agriculture supply chain. The zero-carbon-intensity hydrogen project is intended to produce up to 100,000 tons per year of zero-carbon green ammonia, an essential ingredient in the agricultural fertilizers produced by project partner Verdigris. But the company’s penchant for innovation doesn’t stop there, with NextEra combining a slew of sustainable technology in its offering, including wind and solar generation, battery storage technology, emissions-free nuclear power and transmission lines.
Innovation spurs progress across the industry. Major oil and gas firms Shell and Chevron have been around for decades but face pressure to keep their technology fresh and embrace the green transition. Meanwhile, green-focused companies like NextEra have become a key fixture in the energy landscape but must continually change or risk losing market share. Exciting and inventive innovation comes from small-cap outfits like Jericho, which could have their hands on truly world-altering technology.