Aemetis Biogas cashes in on Investment Tax Credits
In the United States (US), Aemetis, Inc., a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company, has announced the receipt of US$6 million of cash, after transaction costs, from the sale of US$7.7 million of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investment tax credits generated by the construction of dairy biogas digesters by the Aemetis Biogas subsidiary of the company.
The investment tax credits were sold to a corporate purchaser who had previously agreed to purchase them as part of a multi-closing purchase arrangement.
The IRA was signed into law in August 2022 and provides transferable federal income tax credits for investments in certain renewable fuel projects, as well as production tax credits for low carbon intensity renewable fuels.
Aemetis generated IRA Section 48 investment tax credits from its investment in dairy biogas digesters constructed and placed in service by Aemetis in Q4 2024.
The US$6 million of net cash proceeds received by Aemetis yesterday is in addition to US$11 million of cash proceeds from tax credits sold last month, funding domestic energy production projects and reducing dependence on imported crude oil. The next sales of investment tax credits will be generated by biogas digester and pipeline projects that are currently under construction and expected to be completed in Q2 2025, stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis.
The Aemetis Keyes ethanol plant supplies about two million pounds of animal feed daily to feed more than 100,000 dairy cows at about 80 dairies in the local area.
Twelve dairy digesters
To capture methane at dairies and produce renewable natural gas (RNG), Aemetis is operating twelve dairy digesters, 36 miles of biogas pipeline, a central biogas to RNG production facility, and a PG&E utility gas pipeline interconnection.
Aemetis expects to produce 550,000 MMBtu of RNG per year from its existing projects combined with those planned for completion in Q2.
Approximately 25 percent of methane emissions in California are emitted by dairy waste lagoons that do not have methane capture systems such as those installed by Aemetis.
When fully built, the Aemetis Biogas project plans to capture methane from the waste produced by more than 150,000 cows at dairy farms in California and produce 1,650,000 MMBtu of renewable natural gas from captured dairy methane each year.
When fully operational, the Aemetis Biogas project in California is designed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to an estimated 6.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) over ten years.
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