Additional Digester Construction Planned to Increase Production Rate over 150% to 800,000 MMBtu Per Year by Q3 2025
CUPERTINO, CA - 
(NewMediaWire) - June 26, 2024 - Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on low and negative carbon intensity products, today announced that its Aemetis Biogas subsidiary completed a key milestone of constructing and operating dairy digesters with a capacity to produce more than 300,000 MMBtu of renewable natural gas (RNG) per year. Additionally, the planned construction of new digesters is expected to increase the annual RNG production rate to over 800,000 MMBtu by the third quarter of 2025, more than a 150% increase from the current production rate.
“Our commercial revenue generation from selling RNG for transportation began in January 2023, and we have already grown to a production rate of more than 300,000 MMBtu per year, which generates revenues of about $13 million per year in today’s markets prior to receiving LCFS Provisional pathway approvals, prior to expected increased revenue from expanded LCFS credit mandates in November of this year, and prior to transferable 45Z tax credits starting in January 2025,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis, Inc. “We have already closed $50 million of 20-year USDA guaranteed funding for the biogas project and achieved positive cash flow from biogas operations, and we are working to close an additional $75 million of USDA-guaranteed construction funding this year.”
The California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits generated by Aemetis Biogas are currently based on a negative 150 Default pathway carbon intensity (CI). The CI is expected to decrease to below negative 320 CI when CARB approves Provisional pathways for each digester. The revenue generated from LCFS credits earned at the improved CI of the Provisional pathway will be approximately 85% more than the default pathway revenue.
On November 8, 2024, the California Air Resources Board is scheduled to hold a hearing where it is expected to adopt an LCFS mandate through the year 2045 with the goal of significantly increasing the demand for LCFS credits and increasing LCFS credit prices.
The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022 provides a transferable Production Tax Credit (PTC) for renewable fuels that becomes effective in January 2025. The IRA allows Aemetis to monetize the credits by selling them to third parties. The IRS has not yet issued its final rules to calculate the value of the credit, but based on the statutory requirements, Aemetis expects the credit to substantially increase Aemetis Biogas cash receipts above the current revenue baseline.
Aemetis has designed its RNG production infrastructure for cost-effective expansion. An Aemetis-owned pipeline transports biogas from dairy digesters to a centralized RNG upgrading facility at the Aemetis Keyes ethanol plant. Aemetis has already installed 36 miles of biogas pipeline and has an additional 24 miles of pipeline approved under the CEQA environmental process for a total of 60 miles of biogas gathering pipeline.
Aemetis currently has agreements to obtain dairy waste from 43 dairies and plans to increase its RNG production at its current upgrading hub to more than 1.65 million MMBtu per year of negative carbon intensity transportation fuel. This quantity of RNG will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 6.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over ten years, which approximates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 150,000 cars.
The Aemetis Biogas project, which include dairy digesters, collection pipeline, a centralized biogas upgrading facility, a planned RNG fueling station, and a PG&E gas pipeline interconnection, is expected to invest more than $300 million in California’s Central Valley. The dairy biogas operations improve air quality in a number of disadvantaged communities and generate additional tax revenues and new jobs for a wide variety of Central Valley businesses.
Aemetis’ company mission and five-year plan have received strong support from private and government stakeholders that seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Aemetis Biogas dairy RNG project, energy efficiency upgrades to the Aemetis Keyes biofuels plant, and the planned Aemetis Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Renewable Diesel plant have been awarded more than $57 million of grant funding and other support from the California Air Resources Board, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Forest Service, the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, CAEFTA, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and Pacific Gas and Electric’s energy efficiency program.
About Aemetis
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company focused on the operation, acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace petroleum-based products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Founded in 2006, Aemetis is operating and actively expanding a California biogas digester network and pipeline system to convert dairy waste gas into Renewable Natural Gas. Aemetis owns and operates a 65 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s Central Valley near Modesto that supplies about 80 dairies with animal feed. Aemetis owns and operates a 60 million gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe. Aemetis is developing the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel fuel biorefinery in California to utilize renewable hydrogen, hydroelectric power, and renewable oils to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel. For additional information about Aemetis, please visit www.aemetis.com.
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This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections of financial results in 2024 and future years; statements relating to the development, engineering, financing, construction and operation of the Aemetis ethanol, biogas, SAF and renewable diesel, and carbon sequestration facilities; our ability to promote, develop, finance, and construct facilities to produce biogas, renewable fuels, and biochemicals; and statements about future market prices and results of government actions. Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing signs,” “targets,” “view,” “will likely result,” “will continue” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and predictions and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Actual results or events could differ materially from those set forth or implied by such forward-looking statements and related assumptions due to certain factors, including, without limitation, competition in the ethanol, biodiesel and other industries in which we operate, commodity market risks including those that may result from current weather conditions, financial market risks, customer adoption, counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to federal policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, and in our other filings with the SEC. We are not obligated, and do not intend, to update any of these forward-looking statements at any time unless an update is required by applicable securities laws.
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