Phil Cottam: building a renewable energy network from Houston

Houston has spent decades building its reputation around energy. What is changing is the kind of energy expertise the city needs.

For Phil Cottam and Hunter Philips, that makes Houston an interesting place to be.

Texas is already one of the most important renewable energy markets in the US, and the numbers suggest the scale of activity is still growing. The US Energy Information Administration expects developers to add a record 86 GW of utility-scale generating capacity nationally during 2026. Solar represents 51% of those planned additions, battery storage 28% and wind 14%. Texas alone accounts for 40% of planned US utility-scale solar additions and 53% of planned battery capacity.

Behind those projects sit the people who have to develop, finance, connect, construct and operate them.

That is where Phil's work begins.

Why Houston?

The obvious answer is energy.

The more interesting answer is people.

Houston has a depth of commercial, engineering and operational energy experience that few cities can replicate. Increasingly, that experience stretches across conventional energy, solar, wind, battery storage and the electricity grid.

Metro Houston's renewable energy workforce grew from 19,173 people in 2023 to 23,140 in 2024, according to Greater Houston Partnership analysis of US Department of Energy data. That is growth of more than 20% in a year.

Solar employment rose particularly quickly, increasing by 45.4% to 7,670 jobs. Houston also had 8,001 people working in wind power generation, giving it the largest wind workforce of any US metropolitan area in the analysis.

For a renewable energy recruiter, those numbers matter. But they only tell part of the story.

A market can have thousands of people and still be difficult to recruit in. The question is whether you understand who those people are, where the strongest teams sit and, crucially, who might actually consider moving.

That knowledge comes from conversations.

Building the network one conversation at a time

Recruitment can look transactional from the outside. A company has a vacancy. A recruiter finds someone. The person gets hired.

The reality, particularly for senior and specialist renewable energy appointments, is rarely that neat.

The strongest candidate for a role may not be applying for jobs. They might not have updated their CV for five years. They may be happy where they are, but interested in a particular developer, technology or leadership opportunity.

Equally, a business might know it needs to strengthen a team without having decided exactly what the next hire should look like.

That is why Phil's focus in Houston is about building relationships before they are necessarily needed.

It means speaking with developers, IPPs, utilities, investors, EPCs and the people delivering projects. It means understanding what is happening inside the market rather than simply watching vacancies appear online.

And, where possible, it means doing that face to face.

Houston is a big city, but energy remains a relationship-driven industry. A coffee, lunch or conversation at an industry event can reveal considerably more about where the market is moving than another hour looking at job adverts.

The roles are changing with the grid

The Texas market also provides a useful example of why specialist networks matter.

Renewable development is no longer simply a question of putting more generation into the ground.

ERCOT reported that approximately 62 GW of new generation was synchronised with the Texas grid between 2021 and 2025. Roughly 31 GW was solar, 16 GW battery storage and 10 GW wind.

The pipeline is larger still.

As of February 2026, ERCOT had 2,008 active generation interconnection requests representing more than 453 GW. Energy storage accounted for approximately 178 GW and solar another 163 GW. Together, the two technologies represented more than three quarters of capacity seeking interconnection.

At the same time, electricity demand is rising sharply. ERCOT's large-load interconnection queue reached approximately 239 GW in February 2026, driven by new sources of demand including data centres and other large industrial loads.

Put those trends together and the hiring implications become clearer.

Companies do not simply need "renewables people". They need professionals who understand transmission, interconnection, power markets, grid integration, development, construction and asset management.

Current Houston vacancies offer a snapshot of that demand. Recent roles advertised in the city include Director of Transmission & Interconnection, Director of Origination, Construction Lead Expert and Global Energy Management Lead positions.

ENGIE has also recently recruited in Houston for an Interconnection Specialist supporting utility-scale renewables across ERCOT and a Grid Integration Engineering Advisor covering wind, solar and BESS.

These are specialist positions. Finding the right person requires more than matching keywords on a CV.

It requires knowing the market.

Expert Thoughts

Philip Cottam, Managing Partner - Executive Search and Founder at Hunter Philips, says building a strong renewable energy network in Houston is about being close enough to the market to understand the people, businesses and opportunities shaping it.

"Houston has always been an energy city, but what makes it particularly interesting now is how much the market is evolving. You have established energy expertise sitting alongside growing investment in solar, storage, grid infrastructure and power, which is creating a really interesting talent market. For us, being here is about getting closer to that market. You learn far more from meeting people, hearing what businesses are working on and understanding where teams are growing than you ever could from looking at vacancies online. That's especially important at senior level. The best people are rarely actively looking for a job, so you need to know the market and build those relationships well before a hiring requirement lands. That's what we're doing in Houston - building a network properly, one conversation at a time."

Knowing who to call before the role exists

This is ultimately what building a network is about.

The value of a specialist recruiter is not measured by how many LinkedIn connections they have. It is whether they can pick up the phone when a difficult requirement arrives and already know the people worth speaking to.

For candidates, the same principle applies.

A good recruitment relationship should exist beyond an immediate vacancy. Understanding what someone wants from their next move, which technologies interest them, what type of company they work best in and what would genuinely persuade them to leave their current position makes future conversations considerably more useful.

That becomes particularly important as renewable energy roles become more specialised.

Someone with deep ERCOT interconnection experience cannot simply be substituted for another electrical engineer. A commercial leader who understands PPAs, merchant exposure and Texas power markets brings a different background from somebody who has spent their career in project development.

The details matter.

Houston is an energy city in transition

There is a tendency to talk about the energy transition as though one industry is replacing another.

Houston suggests something more complicated.

The city's existing energy ecosystem is part of the reason renewable energy businesses are able to find experienced engineers, project managers, commercial professionals and executives there. Skills move between sectors. Companies establish offices near customers, investors and competitors. People meet each other, change businesses and build new teams.

Renewable energy is becoming another significant part of an energy network Houston has spent generations developing.

For Hunter Philips, being part of that network means being present in the market and continuing to build relationships across it.

For Phil, that means plenty more conversations in Houston.

And probably quite a lot of coffee.