Tuesday, 18 November, 2025 / Edition 85

We are coming up on the final few editions of Enspired. If you’re crushed at the prospect of missing out on my writing and communication, I encourage you to follow me on LinkedIn, where I will stay active as I launch a few of my other endeavors. I’ll link those endeavors in next week’s final edition for those interested.

For one, I'll be moderating an AAPG webinar this Thursday, 20 November, entitled “The Career Series: Finding Your Path Forward.” I'll be chatting with résumé, LinkedIn, and cover letter expert Amanda Rico and executive search consultant Laura Preng. Register here.

In the meantime, for our second-to-last installment, we will cover a new spin on solar that seems to be improving economics and outputs.

Sarah Compton

Editor, Enspired

Solar Panel Skyscrapers

Courtesy of Janta Power

There are certain words within tech that add a certain sparkle or appeal to a new innovation. AI-driven is one of them, and 3D is another. There are 3D printers, 3D visualizations, and now, 3D solar.

Janta Power, a Dallas-based startup, raised $5.5 million in seed funding to commercialize its next-generation “3D” solar towers—essentially solar panel skyscrapers. 

The new build:

• Innovative design: Unlike conventional flat, ground-mounted P.V. arrays, solar towers stack panels in a vertical, space-efficient configuration, allowing them to harvest sunlight more effectively throughout the day.

• Consistent collection: Each tower is also equipped with smart tracking software that pivots the towers according to the time of day, so the array captures even low-angle morning and evening light.

• Going steady: That increased efficiency provides more steady power generation throughout the day, rather than a dramatic spike around midday. This helps reduce “ramp stress” (i.e. big swings in power generation) on the grid.

Bottom line: All of that results in the towers generating about 50 percent more energy than traditional flat-panel systems while requiring only one-third of the land that a comparable flat array would need.

Pilots (the pre-launch of a product kind, not the person) at airports: You might have seen these puppies in action during their pilot deployment at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), although other pilots include Munich and facilities run by Aena which operates more than 70 airports worldwide.

Can they last? Having glass towers begs the question of durability, but the towers have steel frames and modular foundations shaped like either a helix or pier. The materials can supposedly withstand winds up to 170 miles per hour, a Category 5 hurricane.

Fun for everyone: As a geoscientist, I’m pretty stoked about this. The decreased land use is enticing, as is the lower Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE), which Janta claims is at $0.05 kilowatt hours.

Lower land use extends beneath the surface a bit too, because these solar farms should require fewer holes dug and less concrete, which decreases their carbon footprint even more.

And if they’re as durable as is being claimed, it could open the horizon of solar even more.

To learn more about Janta and their solar towers, go here.

Sponsored

DIG Supports Your Geochemistry Needs

• Geochemistry and Isotope Measurement Laboratory
• Exploration, Development, Production and Environmental
• Oil - Gas – Water 
• Serving Global Energy Since 2006

Want a Better View into the Corporate O&G Landscape?

Every Wednesday, former strategy advisor from Shell and non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, Shangyou Nie delivers upstream energy insights via AAPG’s business newsletter Well Read. Get the latest M&A happenings, corporate strategy shifts, geopolitical effects on the industry, and more delivered directly to your inbox.

A Look at Last Week’s Well Read

Australian Camera/Shutterstock.com

Here is a snippet of a recent story from AAPG's Well Read newsletter. Sign up here to start receiving insights like this directly to your inbox.

ENI and Petronas announced that they are forming a new company, NewCo, which will own and operate upstream assets in Indonesia and Malaysia. NewCo will focus on integrated gas projects. This is a unique partnership between an IOC and an NOC operating in a third country.

About NewCo:

• On 3 November, Italian major ENI and Malaysian state company Petronas announced plans to form a 50:50 joint venture company NewCo. The initial agreement for the partnership was signed in June 2025.

• NewCo will focus on gas businesses and have a portfolio that is producing more than 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

  • It will have 19 assets — 14 in Indonesia and five in Malaysia.

  • NewCo aims to increase production to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the middle term.

• NewCo is expected to be established in 2026, pending government approvals. It will be a financially self-sufficient entity.

• It will invest $15 billion from 2026 – 2030.

• NewCo will develop at least eight new projects with 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent reserves.

• It will drill 15 exploration wells with an estimated 10 billion barrels of unrisked resources.

What they’re saying: “The historical partnership between Petronas and ENI is envisaged to set a new benchmark for more efficient, cost-effective and responsible upstream development,” said Tengku Muhammad Taufik, President and Group CEO of Petronas.

What to watch:

• Partnerships between IOCs and NOCs are common, but they tend to be around specific assets.

• ENI said that NewCo follows a similar partnership model to other ventures it has previously established, including Vår Energi (with Point Resources) in Norway, Azule Energy (with BP) in Angola, and Ithaca (with Ithaca Energy) in the United Kingdom.

• What other geographic areas will ENI form using a similar model?

• Petronas said that this is its “first venture into a satellite business model” to accelerate upstream development. Will Petronas also try this model with another IOC in a different country?

Sponsored

4D CO₂ Plume Monitoring on 19 Nov.

Monitoring CO₂ storage safely and reliably is critical. In this AAPG Academy session, we’ll show how interactive deep learning guided by real-time interpreter feedback can make 4D seismic analysis faster and more consistent.

👍 If you enjoyed this edition of Enspired, consider supporting AAPG's brand of newsletters by forwarding to a friend or colleague and signing up for our other newsletters here.

➡️ Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for Enspired here.

✉️ To get in touch with Sarah or suggest a topic for Enspired, send an email to editorial@aapg.org.