NET Power (NYSE:NPWR) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call to detail a strategic shift in its near-term commercialization plan, outlining progress on its first project in West Texas and the milestones it sees as critical to reaching a financial investment decision (FID) in the second half of 2026.
Strategy pivots to combined-cycle gas plus post-combustion capture
Chief Executive Officer Danny Rice said the company made a “decisive strategic call” at the end of 2025 to pivot away from oxy-combustion as its primary near-term commercial vehicle. While calling oxy-combustion “a remarkable technology,” Rice said the company is preserving that work while pursuing a faster pathway to “natural gas power with greater than 90% carbon capture” using equipment that exists today.
Product and partner details: Siemens turbines, Entropy capture, air-cooled design
President and COO Marc Horstman described NET Power’s “integrated clean power product” as two Siemens SGT-A35 gas turbines, prepackaged by Relevant Power Solutions, paired with Entropy’s post-combustion capture system and designed for greater than 90% CO2 capture. Horstman said the goal is a standardized, pre-engineered plant design intended to reduce execution risk historically associated with first-of-a-kind projects.
Horstman said the plant design is entirely air-cooled, which eliminates water dependency and expands siting flexibility. He also said the company is working with WSP Engineering and its OEM partners to deliver modular, pre-engineered components.
On the Entropy relationship, Horstman said Entropy’s solvent-based capture technology has been deployed commercially in Canada at its Glacier facility. He said the company expects Glacier phase II commissioning this summer to provide validation data supporting performance assumptions for NET Power’s clean power product.
NET Power said it is in the final stages of completing a joint development agreement with Entropy and expects to finalize definitive agreements in the second quarter. Upon signing, the company said it expects to make a strategic equity investment in Entropy and structure a joint venture for Project Permian, with Entropy co-investing.
Project Permian: design progress, higher output, and timeline to COD
NET Power’s first deployment, Project Permian in West Texas, has passed a conceptual design review and is moving into detailed design with WSP, Horstman said. The company has two modular gas turbine packages on order, with delivery targeted for early 2028, and it is working through the commercial selection and structure of its EPC contract.
Management also highlighted a design change completed during the fourth quarter that increased expected net electrical output from approximately 60 MW to approximately 80 MW. Horstman said the change represented roughly a 33% increase in capacity “from the same site footprint and roughly the same capital envelope,” and that the redesign reduced performance risk on the carbon capture side and increased confidence in capture-rate assumptions underpinning project economics.
The company’s stated timeline calls for FID in the second half of 2026 and a targeted commercial operations date in early 2029. Horstman said that if achieved, Project Permian would be “the first commercial natural gas plus CCUS project in the United States.”
NET Power outlined four parallel workstreams it said are required to reach FID:
- Engineering: advance detailed design to support an EPC contract and lender independent engineer review.
- Long-lead equipment: target approximately $50 million in pre-FID long-lead commitments by mid-year.
- Financing: select a financial advisor and engage prospective lenders and co-equity investors.
- Offtake: secure contracted revenues to support project bankability.
Horstman said site control is in place through an executed ground lease with Oxy, and grid interconnection work is progressing with Oncor, targeting an interconnection date in the fourth quarter of 2028.
Offtake focus: Oxy negotiations, data center interest, and pricing targets
Management repeatedly stressed that offtake is the top near-term priority. Horstman said the company’s most advanced discussions are with Oxy, which is both the site landlord and the planned CO2 offtaker for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). NET Power said it is negotiating power purchase structure with Oxy in addition to the CO2 arrangement.
Horstman added that the company has a growing pipeline of potential offtake relationships across industrial, utility, and data center customers. He referenced discussions with a hyperscale data center developer in West Texas for a behind-the-meter arrangement that could be “significantly larger than phase I,” on the order of 300 MW.
As a pricing goal, Horstman said NET Power aims to sign an offtake agreement or MOU this year at pricing at or above $100 per MWh, which management said supports project bankability and targeted returns.
In response to analyst questions on pricing, Rice pointed to rising ERCOT forward power prices, saying the forward curve for 2028–2030 has moved from roughly $40–$45 per MWh a year or two ago to roughly $65–$70 per MWh now for “merchant unabated” power. He also said the company is hearing “chatter” that new contracted firm delivery capacity could be north of $100 per MWh when trying to bring new capacity online before the end of the decade.
Capital position, project cost range, and financing approach
Rice said NET Power ended the fourth quarter with approximately $379 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, which he said was above internal targets and reflected disciplined cost management and a winding down of non-core workstreams.
Asked about total installed cost for Project Permian, Horstman said that after progressing the conceptual design with Entropy, an EPC, and major OEM vendors, the company is currently looking at a range of roughly $475 million to $575 million. Rice added that capex is “a little bit higher” than prior projections, citing inflation and design changes related to the output increase, while noting the intent to drive down levelized cost of energy.
Rice described three potential funding paths for Project Permian:
- 100% equity
- Equipment financing backed by marketable assets such as turbines and electrical equipment
- Full non-recourse project financing secured by contracted cash flows
Management said full project financing is the preferred route for capital efficiency, though Rice acknowledged that lenders have limited experience underwriting post-combustion capture on a U.S. natural gas power project. He said operating data, including from Entropy’s Glacier phase II commissioning, and strong, creditworthy offtake agreements are central to building lender confidence.
In a discussion of illustrative financing, Rice said that with a roughly $550 million project cost and a fully contracted PPA, the company believes it could secure around 65% project debt financing, leaving a 35% equity component. He said that in such a scenario NET Power’s equity share could be roughly $100 million to $105 million assuming Entropy and Brookfield participate for their portions.
Rice also said NET Power is primarily focused on West Texas and Project Permian. He noted the company pulled out of the MISO queue late last year due to rising interconnection costs and said the company has “optionality” on the MISO site but sees stronger opportunities in West Texas.
On oxy-combustion, management said the prior work with Baker Hughes is suspended as both partners continue to evaluate the viability of the industrial product.
About NET Power (NYSE:NPWR)
NET Power, Inc is an energy technology company focused on developing and commercializing power generation plants that burn natural gas and other fuels with near-zero carbon emissions. The company’s core innovation is the proprietary Allam-Fetvedt Cycle, a supercritical carbon dioxide power cycle that captures all carbon dioxide produced during combustion without the need for separate carbon capture systems. By integrating gas combustion, heat exchange and carbon dioxide separation into a single closed-loop process, NET Power aims to deliver baseload power with efficiencies and emissions profiles competitive with conventional and renewable generation sources.
Since demonstrating its first full-scale Allam-Cycle facility in La Porte, Texas, NET Power has moved from pilot operation toward commercial deployment.
