Australian CSP company Vast completes SPAC deal to list on Nasdaq

Vast’s 1.1 MW CSP Demonstration Plant in Forbes, Australia was in operation for a 32-month period (Courtesy: Vast)

Vast Renewables, a company specializing in concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) energy systems, announced the completion of its business combination with Nabors Energy Transition Corp. (NTEC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and affiliate of Nabors Industries, in an agreement originally intended to allow Vast to list on the Nasdaq.

NETC merged with and into a wholly owned subsidiary of Vast, and NETC’s shares of Class A common stock, warrants to purchase shares of Class A common stock, and units consisting of one share of Class A common stock and one-half of one redeemable warrant ceased trading on and were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on market open Tuesday, December 19.

Also on December 19, Vast’s ordinary shares are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “VSTE” and its public warrants to purchase ordinary shares are also expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “VSTEW”.

Founded in 2009, Vast’s proprietary CSP system uses a modular tower design and a sodium loop for heat transfer to efficiently capture and store solar heat for conversion into clean and renewable electricity and heat.

The company’s system is designed to deliver greater efficiency, simplified permitting, faster construction, and more reliable operations when compared to conventional central tower CSP plants.

Vast’s proprietary CSP v3.0 technology reflects and concentrates the sun’s rays onto multiple solar receivers that capture the sun’s energy as heat in sodium, and then transfer the heat to molten salt for high-density storage. The stored heat can then be used to generate steam for a turbine, to produce heat directly for industrial purposes, or to deliver a mix of power and heat for the efficient production of green fuels such as green hydrogen, green methanol, and sustainable aviation fuels, among others, the company said.

Earlier this year, Vast CEO Craig Wood appeared on the Factor This! podcast to discuss the company’s CSP system.

Episode 40 of the Factor This! podcast features Craig Wood, CEO of the Australian next-gen concentrated solar power company Vast, which thinks it can change CSP’s fortunes in the US. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Vast believes its CSP technology offers several advantages over conventional counterpaers, including the use of sodium as the heat transfer fluid. This unlocks the company’s modular tower design, enables superior thermal process control, and avoids the need to empty and restart the solar receivers daily due to the risk of the molten salt freezing, as is the case with central tower technology, they said.

When compared to parabolic trough systems, sodium’s higher operating temperature relative to mineral oil delivers more efficient power cycles and cheaper energy. Vast also sees an advantage in its modular system to make better use of the heliostats (mirrors), achieving a 10-20% efficiency gain versus central tower designs. That removes the single-point-of-failure risk inherent in central tower technology, the company said. Additionally, each module’s towers are smaller and less complex making them easier to permit, build, operate, and maintain.

Vast’s technology was field-validated and proven at the company’s Forbes, Australia demonstration plant, where the 1.1 MW facility successfully synchronized with the grid in 2018 and operated for nearly three years.