Shaw Group to Invest $50 Million in Carbon-Capture Company

The Shaw Group Inc. (SHAW) said Wednesday that it plans to invest up to $50.4 million in a new type of power-plant technology that captures carbon dioxide. Shaw, of Baton Rouge, La., plans to buy up to half of the startup company that developed the technology, called Net Power LLC. U.S. power giant Exelon Corp. (EXC), of Chicago, has agreed to help with permitting and marketing for the venture's first power plant, a 25-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant that will be located somewhere in or near the Gulf of Mexico region. Net Power says the plant will capture all emissions, including carbon dioxide, and sell both the electricity the plant generates and the carbon dioxide it captures. The CO2 will be sold to oil producers in an existing market for the gas, which is used to produce oil.