NET Power LLC, an energy innovation firm specializing in zero-emissions, gas-fired electricity generation, announced Nov. 16 that its 50-MW test facility in La Porte, Texas, has successfully delivered power to the state's grid.

The development marks the first time a gas-fired generation facility of its kind has produced electricity for distribution "anywhere in the world," according to a Nov. 16 press release.

"This is a Wright-brothers-first-flight kind of breakthrough for energy — zero-emission, low-cost electricity delivered to the grid from natural gas-fueled technology," NET Power CEO Ron DeGregorio said in the release.

Founded in 2010, Net Power's investors include 8 Rivers Capital LLC, Mcdermott International Ltd. and Exelon Corp. The company's goal is to make "carbon-emitting power plants economically and environmentally obsolete," according to its website.

NET Power broke ground on the 50-MW test facility in 2016, and the generator became the world's first operational large-scale supercritical carbon dioxide power plant in 2018.

Using a combustor and turbine supplied by Toshiba Corp., the test facility captures and recycles the CO2 produced by gas-fired combustion — instead of steam — to generate electricity. Remaining CO2 can either be stored underground in geological formations or used for other industrial processes.

The test facility's first injection of electricity onto the power grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. demonstrates how the technology, known as the Allam-Fetvedt cycle, can help the world achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, NET Power said.

Power providers will need to increasingly rely on dispatchable forms of firm, zero-emission generation to accommodate a surge in wind, solar and other variable renewable energy generation as nations seek to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

"Now we can expand on our deep bench of partners to accelerate the development of commercial NET Power projects around the world that are urgently needed to help achieve aggressive climate targets at an affordable price," DeGregorio said.

In April, the company also announced a partnership with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe Growth Fund to build the 280-MW Coyote Clean Power Project within the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado.