The Next Chapter

Creating A Stronger Voice For The Texas Clean Energy Economy: Texas Renewable Energy Industries Alliance and CleanTX Join Forces

First and foremost, during these uncertain times, we hope that you, your employees or co-workers, and your friends and family are all healthy and well. 

Last fall, TREIA and CleanTX began discussions about combining their organizations. Today, we are excited to share with you that TREIA and CleanTX, two of Texas’ most prominent nonprofits focused on clean and renewable energy, have agreed to merge into a single and more powerful organization. The new Austin-based entity will continue forward under the name CleanTX.

This took months of diligence and discussions focusing on creating more value for members to form a more robust and strong organization. CleanTX is now much better equipped to achieve its now-combined Mission: “to accelerate growth of cleantech and renewable energy in Texas”.

Joining forces made obvious sense, given the similarity of missions and opportunities for efficiencies. That was the easy part. The more challenging aspects – that occur with any merger among equals – consisted of issues such as board composition and the succeeding organization’s name. With its long and successful 36-year legacy, representing thousands of hours of toil and commitment, it was not an easy decision for many to give up TREIA’s name.  However, the members of the merger task force ultimately determined that the CleanTX name more clearly reflected the mission of the new organization.

TREIA, founded in 1984, has influenced the legislation that created Texas’ successful Renewable Portfolio Standard which ultimately led to Texas becoming a world leader in installed wind power capacity and was the innovator of GridNEXT, an annual conference to advance the discussion around modernizing the transmission grid to maximize renewable energy integration. CleanTX, founded in 2006, supports cleantech innovation and adoption through information exchange, thought leadership and strategic partnerships. Combining these two organizations will provide increased value to both member groups while also driving expansion throughout Texas. Key partners includes more than 70 organizations such as: 

• Austin Energy
• Avangrid Renewables
• Duke Energy
• Electrical Consultants, Inc.
• Husch Blackwell
• North American Development Bank
• SunPower
• Voltabox of Texas, Inc.

“CleanTX and TREIA have both been incredibly important organizations in their own right for over a decade and over a quarter of a century respectively for the state of Texas,” said Mitch Jacobson, the Executive Director of the Austin Technology Incubator, former board member of TREIA and former Board Chair of CleanTX. “The announcement of the merger of these two nonprofits is such great news in that they can now pour their joint efforts into one, and is especially gratifying after spending many years on both of these respected boards. The importance of their joint mission cannot be overstated and I am very much looking forward to their future impact on sustainability and the clean tech economy.”

CleanTX will continue to be based in Austin, Texas and will integrate TREIA’s local chapter model, supporting chapters in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Boards of Directors for TREIA and CleanTX, composed of renewable and clean energy professionals, have also combined to form a heightened thought leadership team. With over 70 member companies, ranging from large-scale renewable energy developers, utilities and economic development organizations to cleantech, builders, and other companies across Texas, will benefit from this consolidated organization that can deliver more content and connections with improved scale. 

The new CleanTX Executive Team will consist of:

• Prior-President of TREIA Melissa Miller, Regional Manager at Avangrid Renewables
• Prior-Chair of CleanTX Ryan Edwards, Finance Manager at SunPower Corporation
• Vice Chairman Scott MacMurdo, Business Development Director at Duke Energy 
• Secretary Jeff Risely, Chief Strategy Officer at Saxum 
• Treasurer Cameron Freburg, Utility Strategist at Austin Energy 
• Advisory Board Chair Joseph Kopser, President of Grayline

The new merged organization will be led by the CleanTX Executive Director, Brandon Cosinteno. Brandon has been with CleanTX since May of 2019. “As we move forward as a combined organization, we will bring the strengths of TREIA and CleanTX together to create an even stronger nonprofit organization that represents the entire CleanTech community in Texas. With that, we will continue to grow and leverage our existing networking events, the TREIA GridNEXT series and the unified resources of both organizations to ensure that we are leading the way to accelerate the growth of cleantech and renewable energy in Texas.”

CleanTX and TREIA will be hosting a webinar to discuss the new merger on Wednesday, April 22nd at 12:00 PM. Please register for this webinar by visiting: Webinar Registration. This webinar will give you a chance to hear from both Ryan Edwards and Melissa Miller (co-chairs of the merged organization) and CleanTX Executive Director Brandon Cosinteno. 

Starting in May, CleanTX will be hosting a webinar the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. The first webinar on Wednesday, May 13th, will discuss the Impacts of the Pandemic on the Grid, and you will see an invitation to that webinar later this month.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this mean for prior TREIA members?
As a member of the new organization, you will now have access to all of the networking and informational events that CleanTX has always been known for, plus you’ll still be able to attend GridNEXT and soon have access to an exciting new bi-monthly webinar series. 

When will your membership renew?
For 2020, your membership cost and renewal date will not change. 

How can you contact the Executive Director if you have other questions?
Please contact Brandon at Brandon@CleanTX.org. 

To recap, we wanted our members to be the first to know about the merger. You’ll hear more information about the merger in the coming weeks as we make an official announcement. In the meantime, please let myself or Brandon know if you have any questions. 

We appreciate your continued support and we look forward to this next chapter in our history.