NET Power LLC, the company delivering zero emissions natural gas plants, has achieved a milestone in enhancing the large-scale deployment of its technology. NET Power and Rice Acquisition Corp II (NYSE: RONI) announced on April 24th an additional $275 million of private investments in public equity or PIPE commitments to their proposed business combination.
Rice Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company and NET Power announced back in 2022 they will enter into a business combination and the combined company (Net Power Inc) will be listed on the NYSE to accelerate deployment of NET Power’s proprietary clean energy technology. The new commitments will support Net Power’s capital needs to commercialize its technology globally.
The PIPE commitments in Net Power Inc come from Occidental (NYSE: OXY) investing $250 million, bringing its total investment to $350 million, and the Rice Friends and Family who has committed an additional $25 million to the PIPE, bringing their total investment to $125 million. Assuming no redemptions, Occidental’s ownership stake in the combined company has now increased to around 39%.
The gross proceeds of the combined company are currently $845 million, consisting of approximately $345 million from RONI’s trust account (assuming no redemptions), and around $500 million from the PIPE raised entirely at $10.00 per share of common stock. Assuming no RONI shareholders exercise their redemption rights, the business combination is expected to have a market capitalization of $2.207 billion.
“We believe NET Power’s technology can accelerate emissions reductions in our existing operations and ultimately supply emissions-free power to the Direct Air Capture facilities and sequestration hubs we are developing… Our additional $250 million investment in NET Power demonstrates our conviction in NET Power’s technology and mission to globally deploy affordable and reliable zero-emissions energy,” said Vicki Hollub, President and CEO of Occidental.
NET Power plans to fully fund its first large-scale facility that is expected to become operational in 2026 with $200 million of the net proceeds from the business combination and the PIPE. NET Power’s first utility-scale natural gas-fired power plant with near-zero atmospheric emissions will be built near Occidental’s Permian Basin operations.
Relevant: NET Power To Build First Utility-Scale Plant With CO2 Sequestration
It will utilize the company’s unique technology producing clean energy from natural gas while capturing nearly all emissions with its patented oxy-fuel combustion and supercritical CO2 cycle. The technology is considered to be fully delivering the energy trifecta at a global scale meaning clean, affordable, reliable and dispatchable energy.
“We’re confident that NET Power’s patented power plant technology is the only technology that can deliver all-in-one clean, reliable and low-cost power, and the more time we spend with the NET Power team and the technology, the more excited we get. We are pleased with the progress to date on SN1 and we consider Occidental an ideal partner in the CO2 offtake, carbon management, and sequestration space. Now more than ever, we believe that the world needs NET Power, and this additional capital from Occidental and the Rice family enhances our ability to begin delivering the energy trifecta at global scale this decade,” commented incoming NET Power CEO Danny Rice.
