Benzinga | Sep 15, 2021 08:13AM EDT

Aemetis Biogas Signs Utility Pipeline Interconnect Agreement, Funds Final $1.2M Payment For Installation Of Equipment

Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTX), a renewable natural gas (RNG) and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced that its subsidiary Aemetis Biogas LLC has signed the Standard Renewable Gas Interconnection Agreement (SRGIA) with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and funded the final $1.2 million payment for installation of PG&E's interconnection equipment to deliver renewable natural gas (RNG) into the utility gas pipeline in Q4 2021.

The PG&E RNG interconnect equipment has already been fabricated onto modular units that are now scheduled to be delivered to the Keyes plant and installed during the next three months. When the interconnection unit is completed, the RNG produced by the Aemetis Biogas Central Diary Digester Project will be delivered into the Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas pipeline for sale to customers throughout California as transportation fuel.

"As planned, the engineering, permitting, offsite equipment fabrication, and full payment of $2.3 million to PG&E has been completed," said Andy Foster, President of the Aemetis Biogas subsidiary of Aemetis, Inc. "PG&E manages the fabrication and installation of the interconnection system connecting the Aemetis biogas cleanup and compression facility to the gas utility pipeline. We are pleased that a significant milestone for completion of the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy project was completed today."

Aemetis has already built and currently operates two dairy biogas digesters, on-site dairy gas upgrading and pressurization facilities, and a four-mile biogas pipeline connecting the dairies to the Aemetis Keyes ethanol plant. The centralized biogas cleanup and onsite RNG fueling facilities at the Keyes plant are currently under construction for completion in Q4 2021, and the construction of 15 additional dairy biogas digesters are in progress for completion during 2022.

The PG&E interconnection unit is a gateway for the network of lagoon digesters being built by Aemetis Biogas to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) for use as a transportation fuel. The biogas produced by the first two dairy digesters has received an approved pathway by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) utilizing negative 426 (-426) carbon intensity (CI) and is currently used to displace petroleum based natural gas consumed at the Keyes ethanol production facility for process energy.

When fully built out, the planned 52 dairies in the Aemetis biogas project are expected to capture more than 1.4 million MMBtu of dairy methane and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to an estimated 5.2 million metric tonnes of CO2 each year, equal to removing the emissions from approximately 1.1 million cars per year.

The Aemetis Biogas dairy RNG project, energy efficiency upgrades to the Aemetis Keyes biofuels plant, and the Aemetis Renewable Jet/Diesel project include $57 million of grant funding and other support from the US Department of Agriculture, the US Forest Service, the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, CAEATFA, and Pacific Gas and Electric's energy efficiency program.