Clean energy company NET Power to go public in $1.5bn SPAC deal

Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), and American clean energy producer NET Power will merge their businesses to accelerate decarbonization of natural gas power generation.

Called NET Power Inc., the combined business is projected to have an enterprise value of $1.46 billion and to capture substantial market share with planned utility-scale plant deliveries starting in 2026.

The new entity will deploy NET Power’s proprietary technology to produce reliable, clean, and low-cost power from natural gas.

NET Power Inc. with planned commercialization in 2026, is expected to fund its corporate operations through $235 million of committed investments from the Rice family, Occidental, Constellation, 8 Rivers, HITE Hedge, and NGP.

Danny Rice — NET Power Inc. incoming CEO said: “Today, around 60% of global power generation comes from coal and natural gas-fired power plants that produce reliable and low-cost power.

“However, these plants collectively emit nearly 14 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, accounting for approximately 37% of total global emissions.

“By replacing these plants with NET Power’s proven technology, we can eliminate nearly 100% of these emissions while providing reliable and low-cost power that people deserve.”

NET Power’s proprietary process generates electricity by combining oxy-combustion with a supercritical CO2 power generation cycle, which inherently captures over 97% of CO2 that can then be used or appropriated, transforming natural gas into clean baseload power.

As part of commercialization of its technology, NET Power has recently announced its plans to build its first utility-scale natural gas-fired facility with carbon capture and sequestration at an Occidental-hosted site near Odessa, Texas.

In November 2021, the clean energy company successfully proved the oxy-combustion and supercritical CO2 process by synchronizing its demonstration plant in La Porte, Texas to the grid.