Dive Brief:

• Energy technology firm Net Power announced its CFO, Akash Patel, and its President and Chief Operating Officer, Brian Allen, would no longer serve in their respective roles and have been relieved of their day-to-day responsibilities, according to a Tuesday press release and securities filing. Both executives will officially depart the company effective May 1, according to the press release.
• Also Tuesday, the Durham, North Carolina-based company appointed its CEO Daniel J. Rice to serve as its president and as interim CFO, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Net Power’s head of product development, Marc Horstman, was appointed to the role of COO effective immediately, the company said.
• The ousting of the two executives comes as the energy tech company seeks to weather ongoing cash challenges, after reporting a sharp drop in its cash and cash equivalents from $386 million for its Q3 to $329 million for its Q4 of its fiscal 2024 ended Dec. 31, according to a March 10 earnings presentation. The energy tech company also anticipates operating costs will continue to rise for the next few years as it struggles to complete the construction of its first commercial-scale power plant in West Texas.

Dive Insight:

Patel has served as CFO for the company since May 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to the energy firm, he served in various roles during a near-decade tenure at Barclays, including as its director, SVP, investment banking, and has also held executive roles for Citibank.

Allen, meanwhile, has served as COO and president since April 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile, and is an alum of companies including Mitsubishi Power Americas and GE Energy.

Both Allen and Patel will receive a cash severance payment upon their departure, made up of “an amount equal to the sum of each of their (A) current base salary and (B) the average of the actual annual bonuses paid to Mr. Allen and Mr. Patel with respect to 2023 and 2024,” a pro-rated portion of their respective target bonuses for 2025, and an amount equal to a year of premiums for their health plan coverages, according to the filing. They will also receive grants of stock units as part of their severance.

The company has yet to file its proxy statement for 2024, but for Net Power’s fiscal 2023, Allen as president and COO received total compensation of $646,157, comprised of an annual base salary of $380,000 and non-incentive compensation of $218,325, according the proxy statement filed in April 2024. Patel, meanwhile, received total compensation of $587,578, made up of an annual base salary of $395,000 and non-incentive compensation of $191,813. Neither Patel nor Allen received an annual bonus or stock award for 2023, according to the proxy.

“Delivering breakthrough solutions like Net Power's requires constant assessment and adjustments along the way. Changes like these are tough but essential to ensure we’re best positioned to achieve the ambitious potential of our proprietary technology,” CEO and interim CFO Rice, who took the top executive seat at the company in 2023, said in a statement included in the Tuesday release. “I want to thank Brian and Akash for their valuable contributions to Net Power and wish them the best in their future endeavors. Looking ahead, I firmly believe we have the right leadership in place to meet the world’s ever-growing need for clean, firm power.”

Patel and Allen are departing the firm as Net Power continues to struggle to gain momentum; founded in 2010, the company is focused on developing its “Net Power Cycle,” which aims to convert natural gas to clean energy, but the company has been marked by persistent cash concerns throughout its 15-year history.

The company noted it has “incurred significant losses since inception, we anticipate that we will continue to incur losses in the future, and we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability” in its latest 10-K filing when reporting its financial results for its Q4 and full-year 2024 ended Dec. 31, 2024.  

Net Power has also repeatedly walked back plans to create its first commercial-scale power plant in the Permian Basin in West Texas, delaying the plant’s opening from 2026 to 2027, and most recently to 2029, according to reports. For its most recent quarter, the energy firm also revised its guidance for costs related to the plant dubbed Project Permian, estimating new total installed cost between $1.7 billion to $2 billion, according to its most recent earnings presentation. That compares to an initial cost range between $750 million to $950 million when the project was first announced in 2022, E&E News by Politico reported in March.

Losses have also kept climbing. For its fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2024, Net Power reported a net loss of $49.2 million, according to its earnings results, which followed after a $43.1 million net loss for the period from June 8, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023. As well as ongoing losses, the energy firm also anticipates its operating expenses will continue to climb as it moves to commercialize its Net Power Cycle, and streamline its technology.

“Any failure to increase our revenue sufficiently to keep pace with our expenses could prevent us from achieving or maintaining profitability or positive cash flow,” the company noted in its 10-K. “Furthermore, if our future growth and operating performance fail to meet investor or analyst expectations, or if we have future negative cash flows or losses resulting from our investment in acquiring customers or expanding our operations, this could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.”

Net Power did not immediately respond to requests for comment.