Aemetis sells D3 RINs generated by dairy RNG project

Aemetis Inc., a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced today the sale of 88,883 D3 renewable identification number credits (RINs), the company’s first commercial D3 RIN transaction under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard generated by the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Digester Project in California.  The D3 RINs were generated by the sale of dairy renewable natural gas (RNG) delivered to customers in June 2023 and begins ongoing monthly revenues from the sale of D3 RINs.

The federal D3 RINs that were sold completed an independent review to enable the sale to be entirely comprised of Qualified RINs (QRINs) that have been verified to conform with regulations and identify sourcing.  Separately, the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credits from Q2 2023 production are expected to be generated at the end of Q3 after a verification process has been completed.

The Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy RNG Project has signed 37 diaries to supply biogas digesters with animal waste; has built and is operating seven dairy digesters; has installed over 33 miles of biogas pipeline which is planned to be utilized for the next 30 digesters; built and is operating a centralized biogas-to-RNG production facility; and has interconnected the RNG production facility to the PG&E gas utility pipeline.

“The federal Renewable Fuel Standard has been in place since 2007, and the EPA D3 RIN mandate requires a number of D3 RINs to be delivered by obligated parties that currently is expected to exceed those available in the marketplace for 2023 through 2025,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “The Aemetis Biogas project was developed to produce D3 cellulosic RINs to meet this expanding mandated demand, as well as LCFS credits mandated by the State of California.”

Aemetis Biogas is building anaerobic digesters at California dairies to capture biomethane from animal waste. After removal of contaminants and pressurization of gas at the dairy, a biogas pipeline connects the dairies to a centralized facility located at the Aemetis Keyes ethanol plant where the biogas is upgraded into below zero carbon intensity RNG.  The RNG is then injected into the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) gas pipeline for delivery to transportation fuel customers throughout California. In addition to delivery of RNG through third parties, Aemetis is building an onsite RNG fueling station to fuel local trucks.

About 25 percent of the methane emissions in California are emitted from dairy waste lagoons. 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, producing more than 1,650,000 MMBtu of renewable natural gas from captured dairy methane each year. The project is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to an estimated 6.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over ten years, equal to removing the emissions from approximately 150,000 cars per year.