Greater Commercial Lending completes loan for Aemetis project
Published by Poppy Clements,
Assistant Editor
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
Greater Commercial Lending (GLC), a credit organisation that provides government-guaranteed loans to businesses in under-served and rural communities, has completed its second US$25 million loan for the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Digester Project. The project processes methane from dairy farms into carbon-negative renewable natural gas.
The loan, guaranteed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Rural Energy for America Programme (REAP), will finance the construction of biogas digesters and related assets for eight dairies located in Stanislaus County and Merced County, California, US. The digesters capture biomethane from animal waste, which is delivered via pipeline to a central facility that converts the biogas into carbon negative renewable natural gas (RNG) for use as a transportation fuel.
The RNG has a negative carbon intensity rating because it removes damaging methane gas emissions from the environment and converts the biomethane into a transportation fuel to replace diesel.
Jeremy Gilpin, president of GCL, said: "Renewable fuels projects, such as the Aemetis dairy renewable natural gas project, play a pivotal role in shaping a sustainable future for our planet. However, their successful implementation often requires substantial financial support that is not easily accessible through traditional financing sources. Government-guaranteed loans are critical in advancing these innovative technologies. As we embrace renewable energy, harnessing the power of government-guaranteed financing becomes indispensable in creating a sustainable and thriving future for generations to come."
The second phase of the project will expand Aemetis biogas from its current seven operational dairy digesters, to biogas digesters at 15 dairies, supplying an estimated 400 000 million Btu per year of carbon negative RNG. The initial phase of the project, which also included a 40 mile biogas pipeline, was made possible by the first USDA-guaranteed loan completed by GCL in October 2022.
The Aemetis biogas project, when fully built, will connect biogas digesters to more than 65 dairy farms and produce more than 1 650 000 million Btu of renewable natural gas from captured dairy methane each year. The project is on track to reduce GHG emissions equivalent to an estimated 6.8 million t of carbon dioxide (CO2) over 10 years, equal to removing the emissions from approximately 150 000 cars per year, according to Aemetis.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/the-environment/10082023/greater-commercial-lending-completes-loan-for-aemetis-project/
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