Aemetis, Inc., a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company, announced the receipt of $11 million, after transaction costs, from the sale of $13.5 million of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investment tax credits generated by a solar electricity generation project at the Keyes ethanol plant and two dairy biogas digesters built as Aemetis Biogas projects. Aemetis has also entered into an agreement to sell the tax credits generated by the additional three dairy digesters that Aemetis commissioned in December 2024.
The IRA was signed into law in August 2022 and provides transferable federal income tax credits for investments in renewable energy 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 a 1.9 megawatt solar photovoltaic and battery microgrid built at the Keyes ethanol plant and from two dairy biogas digesters constructed and placed in service by Aemetis during 2024.
“The $11 million of net proceeds received by Aemetis achieves the goals of the Inflation Reduction Act by attracting domestic investment and job creation while reducing dependence on imported crude oil by encouraging the conversion of waste into renewable fuels,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “Aemetis expects to generate more than $500 million of IRA investment and production tax credits to support our biogas projects, carbon intensity reduction at our ethanol plant, and the construction and operation of our CO2 sequestration wells and other projects.”
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. To capture methane at dairies and produce renewable natural gas (RNG), Aemetis has completed and 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 plans to produce 550,000 MMBtu of RNG in year 2025.
Approximately 25% 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 will reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to an estimated 6.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over ten years.
