SUMMARY

The technology uses natural gas and oxygen to fuel a supercritical CO2 cycle that generates electricity.

By Joseph Murphy

US companies Baker Hughes and NET Power have created a partnership to develop zero-emission power plants, they announced on February 22. 

NET Power has developed a proprietary technology that uses natural gas and oxygen to fuel a supercritical CO2 cycle that generates electricity, while also preventing any CO2 escaping into the atmosphere. Baker Hughes said it would bring to the partnership its supercritical CO2 turboexpanders and other pumping and compression technology.

"NET Power's zero-emission, flexible and rapidly dispatchable energy can also help balance variable power sources like solar and wind, helping the world decarbonise faster and with lower cost," Baker Hughes' vice president for turbomachinery and process solutions, Rod Christie, said in a statement.

NET Power recently demonstrated its technology at a plant in La Porte, Texas, that has now been synchronised with the grid.

"Our focus now shifts excitedly to full commercialisation and global deployment, and the world-class experience of Baker Hughes fully completes and strengthens the NET Power team's plan to deliver this innovative clean-energy system," CEO Ron DeGregorio said.