M&A, Project finance, Project news

New renewable diesel plant transacts at $499m

Camber Energy, a NYSE-traded energy company, has reached a deal to acquire 100% of the interests in New Rise Renewables, the owner of a newly developed renewable diesel plant in Reno, Nevada.

January 24, 2023

Camber Energy, a NYSE-traded energy company, has reached a deal to acquire 100% of the interests in New Rise Renewables, the owner of a newly developed renewable diesel plant in Reno, Nevada.

The plant, which will produce 43,000,000 gallons per year (5,971,585 MMBTUs) of renewable diesel from triglyceride oils such as corn, was purchased for $499m, representing a purchase price of $750m less $251m of existing company liabilities, according to a securities filing. The seller is RESC Renewables Holdings, a predecessor company to Ryze Renewables, which developed the project.

The renewable diesel produced by New Rise Renewables Reno is completely interchangeable with diesel derived from petroleum and can efficiently power diesel engines, such as semi-trucks and large-scale emergency generators. Phillips 66 is under contract to supply all of the feedstock for New Rise Renewables Reno and will purchase 100% of the renewable diesel product for use and sale nearby in California.

The parties had reached a framework for the deal in late 2021, subject to purchase price adjustments and other closing conditions.

Reno-based Greater Commercial Lending (GCL) facilitated $112.6m in government-guaranteed credit for the development of New Rise Renewables Reno. Eighty percent of the GCL-arranged financing for New Rise Renewables Reno is guaranteed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) via its 9003 Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical and Biodiesel Production Manufacturing Assistance Program. The financing structure includes participation by GCL parent Greater Nevada Credit Union, other credit unions, insurance companies and secondary market groups.

Renewable diesel is made by causing chemical reactions through the addition of hydrogen to the natural fats and oils. New Rise has deployed proven state-of-the-art efficient and cost-effective technology methods, which involves hydrogenating the triglycerides, according to an August news release. The process uses hydrogen, pressure, catalyst and heat in an efficient manner, allowing reactions to be uniform and controlled – increasing yield, lowering operating costs and allowing for feedstock flexibility.

The fuel plant is located in the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, the largest industrial park in the world. Other occupants include Tesla, Walmart, Google, FedEx, Switch and Panasonic.

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Innovation, Project news

DG Fuels selects Johnson Matthey-bp Fischer Tropsch technology

DG Fuels has selected the technology for its first SAF plant in Louisiana, and is planning 10 more facilities across the United States modeled after the Louisiana project.

DG Fuels has chosen Johnson Matthey and bp’s co-developed Fischer Tropsch (FT) CANS™ technology for its first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant, according to a news release.

Located in Louisiana, USA, it would be the largest announced FT SAF production facility in the world, with a planned capacity of 13,000 barrels per day – capable, after blending to 50%, of producing enough SAF for more than 30,000 transatlantic flights annually.

The project previously planned to produce 120 million gallons at the facility, but today’s press release notes that the proposed $4 billion plant is planned to produce 600,000 metric tons (MT) of SAF per year when fully operational — or 159 million gallons — and would be the largest announced SAF production plant using a non-HEFA route.

DG Fuels has already secured offtake agreements with Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, and has a strategic partnership with Airbus to scale up the use of SAF globally.

DG Fuels is planning 10 more SAF production plants across the United States. These would be modelled on the Louisiana plant with JM and bp as the partners of choice for these facilities.

The fuel at the Louisiana plant is expected to be produced from waste biomass. DG Fuels is projected to purchase around $120 million of sugar cane waste annually, a third of which is planned to be purchased from St. James Parish farmers. JM and bp’s FT CANS technology converts the synthesis gas derived from this biomass to synthetic crude, which is then further processed to produce the synthetic kerosene that is then blended with conventional jet fuel to produce SAF.

In July 2023, DG Fuels announced the closing of investment transactions with aviner & co., inc, Chishima Real Estate Co, and an undisclosed investor. DG Fuels expects the $30m capital raise to fund the project until FID, which is expected in early 2024.

In September 2023, DG Fuels announced a partnership with Airbus in support of DG Fuels’ goal of launching the equity process and reaching FID. Airbus and DG Fuels have agreed for a portion of the production of the first plant to benefit Airbus’ customers.

In November 2023, DG Fuels announced Air France-KLM has made an investment in the facility. Air France-KLM acquired an option to purchase up to 25 million gallons / 75 000 tons of SAF annually over a multi-year period beginning in 2029, in addition to the long-term offtake contract announced by Air France-KLM and DG Fuels in 2022.

April 10, 2024

Innovation, Project news, Raising capital

Canadian firms advancing compressed natural gas trucking corridor

Tourmaline Oil Corp and Clean Energy Fuels have committed CAD 70m to build and operate a network of compressed natural gas stations across Western Canada.

Tourmaline Oil Corp. and Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced today a CAD 70m Joint Development Agreement to build and operate a network of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations along key highway corridors across Western Canada.

Through this 50-50 shared investment, Tourmaline and Clean Energy expect to construct and commission up to 20 CNG stations over the next five years, which will allow heavy-duty trucks and other commercial transportation fleets that operate in the area to transition to the use of CNG, a lower carbon alternative to gasoline and diesel.

Clean Energy will operate the stations. One of North America’s largest logistics companies, Mullen Group Ltd. has indicated its support for the initiative as an early adopter and expects to use the network of stations to fuel its growing fleet of CNG-powered trucks.

“Tourmaline is Canada’s largest natural gas producer, and innovation is at the heart of everything we do. So this partnership with Clean Energy is a natural fit,” said Michael Rose, chairman, president and CEO, Tourmaline. “Across our operations, we have achieved significant emission reductions and cost savings by displacing higher-emitting fuels with natural gas. Thanks to this exciting initiative, we’re able to help the transportation industry do the same.”

This initiative will develop critical infrastructure needed to support the adoption of lower-carbon natural gas fuels that are commercially available today. The use of this domestic, abundantly produced and easily distributed resource is expected to result in significant carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reductions and cost savings for the transportation industry in Canada. Currently, fueling vehicles with CNG results in up to 50% cost savings when compared to retail diesel prices, on an energy equivalent basis. These CNG stations also pave the way for renewable natural gas (RNG) availability in the future, as the same fueling-station infrastructure that dispenses CNG can be used to dispense RNG.

“Clean Energy currently operates the most extensive network of natural gas fueling stations and is the largest distributor of RNG in North America. We continue to invest in upstream production of RNG and the fueling infrastructure needed to provide the trucking industry a cleaner alternative of operating,” said Andrew Littlefair, president and CEO, Clean Energy. “This new partnership with Tourmaline will provide Canada’s trucking industry with an economical, convenient, and sustainable pathway to net zero and will contribute to Canada’s overarching climate change goal.

“As one of North America’s largest logistics providers, the Mullen Group is committed to being a leader in sustainability. We are excited to support this initiative. We have already made a significant investment in CNG trucks and are extremely confident that this technology will play a huge role in the decarbonization of our industry,” said Murray Mullen, chair, SEO and president, Mullen Group.

Based on the anticipated commissioning of up to 20 stations over the next five years, approximately 3,000 natural gas-powered trucks could be fueled using CNG every day, resulting in a reduction of approximately 72,800 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent usage per year. This is equivalent to removing 15,690 passenger vehicles from the road. As future demand increases, the capacity of these stations can be expanded, and new stations added, which would result in greater environmental performance improvement.

The first station expected to be jointly owned under the agreement, located north of Edmonton, is operational and well-positioned for heavy-haul transport routes with close proximity to key customers and stakeholders. The next stations which Tourmaline and Clean Energy expect to commission in the first half of 2024 are anticipated to be located within the municipalities of Calgary and Grande Prairie in Alberta and Kamloops, B.C.

April 19, 2023

Innovation, Project news

Monarch Energy considering Illinois SAF plant

The plant would supply SAF to the Rockford International Airport, according to a column by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth.

Monarch Energy is considering a sustainable aviation fuel facility in Rockford, Illinois.

The plant would supply SAF to the Rockford airport, according to a column by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth.

“Monarch is considering building a facility that would use the emissions from nearby landfills that are already overburdened with waste from metro areas, converting them into American-made Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) that could then be used at Rockford International Airport,” the senator wrote.

In an interview last year, Monarch CEO Ben Alingh said the company was focused on several green hydrogen projects in the Gulf Coast region, most notably a 500 MW project near Beaumont, Texas and a 300 MW project near Geismar, Louisiana.

Monarch has a $25m preferred equity investment and $400m project equity commitment from LS Power.

The proceeds of the preferred equity raise will fund pre-FID aspects of Monarch’s 4.5 GW green hydrogen development platform: overhead, project development, interconnection, land, permitting, and engineering.

The $400m commitment, meanwhile, is earmarked for project equity investments in Monarch’s pipeline of projects. Under the arrangement, the projects will be dropped into a new entity, Clean Hydrogen Fuels, LLC, where LS Power provides the capital and Monarch provides the project, Alingh said in the interview.

April 12, 2024

Innovation, Raising capital

Exclusive: Liquid hydrogen at room temp: Tech firm raising money to scale

A provider of liquid organic hydrogen carrier technology is finishing a second seed round with designs on a Series A next year. The technology allows hydrogen to be transported as a liquid at room temperature.

Ayrton Energy, the Calgary-based provider of liquid organic hydrogen carrier storage technology, is preparing to launching a second seed round and plans a $30m Series A next year, CEO Natasha Kostenuk told ReSource.

Ayrton, with 10 employees, allows hydrogen to be transported as a liquid at room temperature, Kostenuk said. The liquid can also be transported in existing infrastructure while mitigating pipeline corrosion.

The company’s target customers are hydrogen producers, utilities and hub-and-spoke logistical servicers.

To date Ayrton has raised $5m from venture capital and a similar amount will come from the next seed round, Kostenuk said. A 30 kg per day pilot project with a gas utility in Canada is underway and Ayrton will look to 10x that next year, she said, with eyes on 3 metric tonnes per day commercialization.

“It scales like electrolyzers,” she said of the technology. “We can get very large, very easily.”

Ayrton is now engaging investors and potential advisors, Kostenuk said. “It would be good to engage with us now.”

April 3, 2024

Project news, Raising capital

Exclusive: Seattle biomass-to-chemical firm planning equity round

A firm with plans for a biorefinery in Washington state will raise its first large equity round early next year.

Planted Materials, a Seattle-based biomass-to-chemicals company, is in early design stages for its first biorefinery in eastern Washington state and planning to raise an equity round in early 2025, co-founders Noah Belkhous and Greg Jenson said in an interview.

The company will seek to raise between $10m and $20m ahead of FID on the biorefinery, Belkhous said. The four-year-old company has raised $500k from angel investors to date and is currently raising another $1m from high net worth individuals in the Seattle region.

Planted Materials does not have a relationship with a financial advisor but is open to one, Belkhous said.

The company’s recycling model takes municipal landfill waste and converts it to chemical materials for pharmaceutical, paper, plastic and other manufacturing industries.

The proprietary recycling process is something the company would like to license to municipalities in the US and abroad, in addition to building biorefineries in the Pacific Northwest, Belkhous said. The company’s lab is currently based in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.

Early design work on the first biorefinery is underway. The duo expects CapEx to cap at $50m, reaching FID in 2026 and beginning construction that year.

While the majority of the company’s feedstock will likely come from the major metropolitan regions in the western PNW, refining capacity is more attractive in the east for reasons of space and existing waste management infrastructure. Jenson noted the presence of the relevant research campus of Washington State University in Pullman, as well as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Recently, the team accompanied Washington Governor Jay Inslee and members of the Washington State Department of Commerce on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. The company has applied to a pair of $350k grants from the state.

January 9, 2024

exclusive

Innovation, Raising capital

NanoScent seeking new investor to complete blended funding round

NanoScent is seeking a new investor to satisfy the contingencies of a combined EUR 8m investment from existing investors and the European Innovation Council.

NanoScent, an Israel-based technology firm, is seeking a new investor to help solidify an equity investment from the European Innovation Council, CEO Oren Gavriely said in an interview.

To satisfy the contingencies of a combined EUR 8m investment from existing investors and the EIC, NanoScent must bring on a new investor at EUR 2m, Gavriely said.

The ideal investor will have complementary capabilities that can ramp up the revenue stream, Gavriely added. Producers and suppliers of gasses and chemicals for industrial use would make sense.

The money will be used to further develop the proprietary VOCID Purity in-line sensor controller, which measures hydrogen quality by monitoring the cleanliness of gas lines. The technology is oriented towards producers and end-users like fuel cell stations, who will be responsible for the integrity of the hydrogen. The product will be rolled out at the end of 1Q23.

Gavriely said the company has several customers for the technology in the pipeline, declining to say who they are.

NanoScent, founded five years ago, has raised USD 10m in equity to date, with another USD 10m in non-dilutive funding. The company’s largest outside investor is Sumitomo Chemical, which trades on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Control of the company is maintained by the founders, Gavriely said.

NanoScent has 20 employees, Gavriely said. So far the company has relied on the expertise of its board, which includes one former investment banker, for financial advisory services. That could change in the future as the company grows.

NanoScent uses Pearl Cohen for law services and EY for accounting.

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November 2, 2022