NET Power, LLC – the clean energy technology company and Rice Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: RONI) completed on June 8th their previously announced business combination. NET Power will start trading its Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “NPWR” on June 9th, 2023, becoming officially a public company.
The public company NET Power Inc. has an initial enterprise value of approximately $1.5 billion and a market capitalization of around $2.207 billion. The company will use the proceeds from its stock purchases to fund its future ambitious development plans that include a rapid utility-scale natural gas plants deployment.
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The first commercial-scale plant is expected to come online in 2026. NET Power aims to have 30 of its facilities developed by around 2030.
The business combination NET Power Inc. resulted in the raising of more than $675 million in PIPE commitments, consisting of more than $135 million from RONI’s trust account and approximately $540 million in PIPE capital from strategic and financial investors. Additionally, Occidental provided $10 million in interim financing to support NET Power’s operations through the closing of the combination.
Existing strategic investors – Occidental, Baker Hughes, Constellation and 8 Rivers have rolled 100% of their equity into the combined company.
The company announced in December 2022 that it will merge with Rice Acquisition Corp. II to become a publicly traded entity and raise capital to accelerate its technology. Since then, it announced an additional $275 million in PIPE commitments, the commencement of the work on its first utility-scale project near Occidental’s Permian Basin operations, and an intent to form a joint venture with SK Group to develop utility-scale natural gas plants across Asian markets.
“With demand for natural gas expected to grow over the coming decades, NET Power’s near-zero emissions power plant design exemplifies the vital role of climate technology in enabling the transition to lower emissions. We are pleased to collaborate with NET Power as its partner in the global deployment of this technology in the years to come,” commented Baker Hughes Chairman and CEO, Lorenzo Simonelli.
NET Power’s CEO Ron DeGregorio also officially announced his retirement, previously said to happen upon the closing of the business combination. The new CEO Danny Rice will lead the team towards its next phase of development of global acceleration.
“This deal sets NET Power on a path to accelerate the buildout and commercialization of our technology and bring the world the trifecta of clean, affordable, and reliable energyRapid deployment of decarbonized baseload power around the world is critical to addressing climate change and NET Power’s technology offers a path forward. I’m excited to join the team and lead the global deployment of this critical technology,” commented Danny Rice, NET Power CEO.
