The XPRIZE-Recognized Innovator Driving the Next Wave of Low-Carbon Impact

Fernando C. Hernandez, multi-award-winning technology mentor at the U.K.’s Net Zero Technology Centre and XPRIZE-Recognized Innovator advancing global low-carbon technologies

Waterwhelm’s desalination system, part of the XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition, exemplifies the innovation fostered through the Net Zero Technology Centre’s TechX ecosystem

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, October 23, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In 2025, Fernando C. Hernandez evolved into an XPRIZE-Recognized Innovator. This builds on his foundation as a multi-award-winning technology mentor through the U.K.’s Net Zero Technology Centre’s (NZTC) Accelerator program, driving global low-carbon technologies. Notably, the XPRIZE Foundation, a pioneer of global incentive competitions that opened the modern era of private spaceflight through the $10 million Ansari XPRIZE of 2004, now channels that transformative impact toward advancing clean technologies.

Moreover, Hernandez has guided and collaborated with multiple NZTC TechX Clean Energy Accelerator start-ups that achieved XPRIZE acclaim through milestone recognition. This includes the Elon Musk Foundation’s Carbon Removal XPRIZE recipient, Mission Zero Technologies, a Direct Air Capture (DAC) company that received distinction in that global competition. Waterwhelm is currently a qualified team in the XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition under the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative and has advanced its heat-harnessing low-carbon desalination for cleaner water since Hernandez’s mentorship.

This solidifies his place through NZTC’s TechX program, backed by Accenture, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Equinor. As of this year, he has mentored more than 14 international start-ups and dedicated hundreds of hours to advancing low-carbon innovations. Since 2020, his multi-award-winning mentorship has guided CEOs and founders across multiple TechX cohorts from concept to commercialization, investor relations, and first-of-a-kind deployment, and at times he has been embedded within the start-ups to bolster their efforts.

Acua Ocean, which he mentored, demonstrates such deployment, as it launched the U.K.’s first hydrogen-powered uncrewed surface vessel to be certified by Lloyd’s Register in 2025, demonstrating how mentorship can translate pioneering innovation into real-world standards for zero-emission maritime operations. The vessel was also certified under the U.K.’s Workboat Code 3 for Remotely Operated Uncrewed Vessels, marking a turning point for hydrogen propulsion. This aligns with the Society for Low Carbon Technologies (SFLCT), where he serves as Chairman of the Board and advances its mandate to accelerate decarbonization technologies and frameworks worldwide, including Pakistan’s first low-carbon agreement and in helping shape Brazil’s carbon capture law and current regulatory pathway.

In 2025, a breakthrough year, Hernandez originated and commercially implemented syngas-processing technologies in the world’s first electrified biogas-to-Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) project in Uruguay during his tenure as Director at Velocys. The project, led by Syzygy and including Honeywell UOP, demonstrates his ability to transform innovation into commercial application.

It is here that SAF connects to the XPRIZE theme, as Hernandez first engaged with Mission Zero Technologies via the TechX program in 2020 and in subsequent years collaborated with the company at Velocys on syngas-processing applications for SAF through the DAC and low-carbon hydrogen pathway. This connection reflects the shared principle behind XPRIZE—propelling frontier technologies toward real-world deployment. Thus, unsurprisingly, the DAC company has launched three units, the first in the U.K., and expanded internationally.

Last month, a start-up he mentored, Global OTEC, was selected for a prestigious Joint Industry Project by the DeepStar consortium, which includes ExxonMobil and Petrobras. The project centers on Global OTEC’s Power Module, the first ocean-thermal energy system in DeepStar’s portfolio, advancing renewable baseload power to decarbonize offshore operations.

Today he applies the methods that have defined his achievements, linked to the SFLCT, NZTC, and XPRIZE, to screening technology readiness for bankability, commercialization, and internationalization to external platforms. This applies to the private markets, while engaging the Big Four ecosystem in various low-carbon and energy-sector capacities (Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, and EY). These engagements also extend across governments, institutions, and the private sector that require decarbonization guidance rooted in impact. Hernandez concludes, “From XPRIZE to the Net Zero Technology Centre, I am grateful for the opportunity to accompany the journey of frontier innovators and those still to come, by propelling collaborative impact.”

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