Updated:
NET Power
NET Power commercializes a zero-emission natural gas power cycle, led by CEO Danny Rice. Its Odessa project with Occidental targets 2026 operations.
NET Power
NET Power Inc. originated as a technology partnership formed in 2010, bringing together 8 Rivers Capital, Exelon, and McDermott to develop a fundamentally different thermodynamic cycle for natural gas power generation. Unlike conventional plants that treat carbon capture as an expensive bolt-on process, NET Power's Allam-Fetvedt Cycle combusts natural gas with pure oxygen, producing a high-pressure CO2 working fluid that drives a turbine. The design yields pipeline-ready CO2 as a byproduct rather than an exhaust stream — a simplification that captured the attention of operators seeking a practical path to dispatchable clean power. The company's strategy focuses on licensing its technology to utility-scale project developers rather than owning and operating plants itself. Its first commercial facility, a 300 MW plant near Odessa, Texas, is being developed in partnership with Occidental Petroleum's Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary. Occidental provides the crucial off-take commitment, using the captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery initially, with longer-term sequestration ambitions. The project targets initial operations in the 2026–2027 window. NET Power's revenue model depends on design licensing fees and ongoing royalties from projects built using its intellectual property. The pipeline of early adopters includes Constellation Energy and Baker Hughes, which serves as a key equipment supplier. NET Power operates as a lean technology licensing company following its 2023 business combination with Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC co-founded by CEO Danny Rice. The transaction brought in approximately $675 million in gross proceeds to fund commercialization and positioned the firm as a publicly traded entity under the ticker NPWR. The company maintains its engineering and technology development center in Durham, North Carolina, while project development activity concentrates around the Permian Basin, which offers both natural gas supply abundance and existing CO2 pipeline infrastructure. In a significant evolution of its governance, the board includes representatives from Occidental and Baker Hughes, industrial partners that hold early-adopter stakes in the technology's deployment. What structurally separates NET Power from other clean-energy technology companies is its deliberate avoidance of asset-heavy infrastructure ownership. The licensing model means its own balance sheet remains light even as its technology underpins multi-billion-dollar power plant projects. This creates scalability without proportionate capital intensity — a pattern closer to an IP-centric industrial licensor than a utility or independent power producer. Success or failure for NET Power turns on whether the Odessa facility validates the technology's cost and reliability metrics at commercial scale, a binary outcome that will determine whether the licensing pipeline converts into a durable economic moat or an abandoned technical curiosity.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2010
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Durham
Corporate office
Durham, NC, United States
Principals
Danny Rice
Chief Executive Officer
Brian Allen
President and Chief Operating Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is NET Power's underlying technology and how does it differ from conventional carbon capture?
NET Power uses the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle, which combusts natural gas with pure oxygen instead of air, producing a high-pressure CO2 stream that drives a turbine directly. In a conventional plant, capturing CO2 from exhaust gases requires separate chemical scrubbing equipment and imposes a significant energy penalty. NET Power's design eliminates that separation step, yielding pipeline-ready CO2 as an inherent byproduct of the combustion process itself. The cycle was jointly developed by 8 Rivers Capital, Exelon, and engineers from McDermott.
How does NET Power generate revenue?
NET Power operates as a technology licensing company, not a power plant owner-operator. It earns design licensing fees upfront when developers adopt its cycle for new projects, then collects ongoing royalties or fees tied to plant operations. The company does not earn revenue from electricity sales or CO2 offtake — those economics belong to the project developers and operators who license the technology. This asset-light model keeps NET Power's own capital requirements low while scaling through third-party projects.
Who are NET Power's key industrial partners and what do they contribute?
Occidental Petroleum's Low Carbon Ventures subsidiary is the lead project developer for the first commercial-scale plant near Odessa, Texas, and serves as the CO2 offtaker. Baker Hughes provides critical turbomachinery and engineered components for the combustion cycle. Constellation Energy is an early-adopter customer evaluating sites for future NET Power plants. Each partner holds a stake in the technology's deployment trajectory and participates in the supply chain or off-take infrastructure.
What is the status and timeline of NET Power's first commercial plant?
The first utility-scale NET Power plant is planned for a site near Odessa, Texas, in the Permian Basin, targeting initial operations between 2026 and 2027. Occidental Petroleum is leading development as the project owner and CO2 off-taker, with Baker Hughes supplying core power generation equipment. The 300 MW facility is designed to provide baseload power to the ERCOT grid while the captured CO2 is initially directed to Occidental's enhanced oil recovery operations, with potential future sequestration.
Is NET Power structured as a traditional utility, a technology startup, or something else?
NET Power is a publicly traded technology licensing company that went public in 2023 via a SPAC merger. It does not own or operate power plants directly. It licenses its patented combustion cycle design to project developers and earns fees and royalties. This structure resembles an IP-centric industrial licensor more than a utility or independent power producer, allowing it to scale deployment without tying its balance sheet to each plant's construction costs.
Who runs investment decisions and strategic direction at NET Power?
Strategic direction is led by CEO Danny Rice, who co-founded the SPAC vehicle that took NET Power public and previously led Rice Energy before its sale to EQT. Brian Allen serves as President and COO with oversight of commercialization and operational execution. The board includes representatives from key partners Occidental and Baker Hughes, giving major industrial stakeholders direct governance influence over technology deployment priorities and timing.
Does NET Power participate in direct project ownership, or strictly license its technology?
NET Power's stated model is technology licensing without direct plant ownership. The Odessa facility is being developed and owned by Occidental, not NET Power. The company receives design fees and ongoing royalties from each licensed project rather than taking an equity stake in the operating plants. This keeps its own capital allocation focused on technology refinement and licensing pipeline development rather than infrastructure project finance.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: