Baker Hughes, Woodside Develop Natural Gas-Driven Net Power Platform

Baker Hughes and Woodside Energy signed a technology development agreement (TDA) and established a joint initiative to develop a small-scale, low-carbon power generation solution utilizing the Net Power platform. The solution will use natural gas to generate low-cost power while capturing most CO₂ emissions. Under the TDA, the partnership will also assess the feasibility and industrial market scalability of Net Power’s platform.

“We are excited to continue our collaboration with Baker Hughes and leverage their technology and our combined engineering and CCUS capabilities to explore and develop lower-carbon emissions alternative power solutions using Net Power’s platform," said Julie Fallon, Woodside Executive Vice President of Technical and Energy Development. "This agreement further strengthens our long-standing relationship across the natural gas value chain and our shared journey in the energy transition."

The platform is designed to generate power for various applications, including:

• Oil and gas
• LNG
• Heavy industries
• Small-scale applications

Baker Hughes and Woodside will recruit additional development partners to modify the concept in accordance with the continuously evolving requirements of various captive power generation segments. This agreement builds on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022, which planned to decarbonize the natural gas supply chain. Baker Hughes is the sole provider of small-scale technology for the Net Power platform.

NET Power demonstration facility in La Porte, TX; image credit: NET Power

“Baker Hughes is committed to providing solutions that support the decarbonization of the energy and industrial sectors, and we are honored to share this journey with our long-standing customer Woodside Energy,” said Alessandro Bresciani, Senior Vice President of Climate Technology Solutions at Baker Hughes. “We believe this framework represents the partnerships and collaborations necessary to develop and scale the energy solutions that support decarbonization while also meeting the world’s growing energy demand.”

The Net Power platform will use lessons learned from the development and testing at Net Power’s La Porte, TX, demonstration facility and the company’s power plant near Midland, TX.

“Net Power applauds the enhanced collaboration between Woodside and our partner Baker Hughes,” said Danny Rice, CEO of Net Power. “This work has the potential to bring our technology platform to a broader array of end markets and applications, complementing our utility-scale program and strategy. Today’s announcement is a tangible commitment to continue technology and market development for the Net Power platform and to bring ultra-low emissions energy solutions to a power-hungry world.”

More Baker Hughes News

This week, Baker Hughes, under a partnership with Frontier Infrastructure, will deliver its technologies and resources to large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS), power generation, and data center projects. The partnership aims to accelerate the deployment of CCS projects and power solutions in the United States, satisfying the increased power demand in Wyoming, the Mountain West, and Texas. Baker Hughes expects orders as Frontier projects progress.

To meet the power demand driven by expanding data centers and industrial operations, Frontier Infrastructure is developing 256 MW of gas-fired, behind-the-meter power capacity. Baker Hughes will provide its industrial NovaLT gas turbines to support these power generation applications with reliability, flexibility, efficiency, and lower carbon operation.

Baker Hughes will also supply its well design, CO₂ compression, and long-term monitoring technologies for Frontier’s Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub (SCS Hub), in addition to future CCS projects. The SCS Hub is among the largest open-source carbon sequestration assets in the United States:

• It spans approximately 100,000 acres in Wyoming
• Designed to support industrial emitters and ethanol facilities across the Midwest
• Uses a CO₂-by-rail strategy