In the United States (US), renewable fuel project developer Strategic Biofuels LLC has announced that the company has been invited to submit a Part II application to the US Department of Energy’s Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program for up to US$1.6 billion for its Louisiana Green Fuels (LGF) advanced biofuels project.
Please reload the page
Do you want to read the whole article?
- Six editions per year
- Full access to all digital content
- The E-magazine Bioenergy international
- And more ...
Strategic Biofuels has been invited by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) to submit a Part II application for a proposed US$1.6 billion loan guarantee under the Title XVII Innovative Clean Energy Loan Guarantee Program.
The Part II application process entails completing and passing through a number of steps which could ultimately result in a conditional commitment and final US Department of the Treasury, Federal Financing Bank loan guaranteed by the DOE.
If our application proves successful it would be combined with the Tax Exempt Bond allocations from the State of Louisiana to form the debt portion of our project’s financing. We believe the loan guarantee program is a shining example of the US government’s commitment to decarbonizing the transportation sector. We are proud that our LGF Project met the stringent Part I requirements and we look forward to working closely with the DOE to fulfill the requirements of Part II of the application process, said Dr Paul Schubert, CEO of Strategic Biofuels.
Significant project progress
Since the company announced its successful sequestration test well program completed in 2021 and confirmed the plant’s ability to achieve deep carbon negativity, Strategic Biofuels and its LGF Project team say that it has made immense progress winning the support of the local government, the broader Caldwell Parish community, the Louisiana Governor’s office and State Legislature, and national entities from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the US Forestry Service amongst others.
Life Cycle Associates has scored LGF’s carbon intensity at -294 gCO2e/MJ, which is an approximate 400 percent reduction in the carbon footprint relative to fossil diesel.
This is accomplished through carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) from the conversion of waste from sustainably managed plantation forests into cleaner burning renewable diesel, combined with CCS from green electricity production from sawmill wastes.
In December 2022, Strategic Biofuels, alongside State of Louisiana Officials and the Port of Columbia held a groundbreaking ceremony kicking off construction in support of the LGF Project funded by a US$15 million grant to the Port through the State’s Port Priority Program and a US$509 000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority.
The Port of Columbia has also been awarded a US$1 million grant from the DHS and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through their Port Security Grant Program for critical infrastructure.
DOE’s invitation to submit a Part II application is not an assurance that DOE will invite an applicant into the due diligence and term sheet negotiation process, that DOE will offer a term sheet to an applicant, that DOE will issue a loan guarantee, or that the terms and conditions of a loan guarantee will be consistent with terms proposed by an applicant.
The foregoing matters are wholly dependent on the results of the DOE review and evaluation of a Part II Application, and DOE’s determination whether to proceed.