Aemetis Biogas Closes $25 Million USDA-Guaranteed Financing to Fund Digesters for Eight Additional Dairies to Produce Renewable Natural Gas

AB-2 Phase Fully Funded with $34.4 million from 20-year $25 million USDA Loan and $9.4 million of Aemetis Funded Equity; Expands Aemetis Biogas from Seven Operating Dairies to 15 Dairies to Supply an Estimated 400,000 MMBtu per year of Carbon Negative RNG for Use as Transportation Fuel to Replace Diesel

CUPERTINO, Calif., July 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced today the closing of its second $25 million, 20-year term loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a total of $50 million of Aemetis Biogas project financing arranged by Greater Commercial Lending (GCL) in the past nine months.

The Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy RNG Project is now fully funded to build biogas digesters and related assets for eight additional dairies using the $9.4 million of equity financing already provided by Aemetis and the $25 million of new debt financing guaranteed by the USDA. Magnolia Bank of Elizabethtown, Kentucky provided the primary funding for the $25 million loan to Aemetis Biogas 2, LLC (AB-2), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aemetis, Inc.

“The USDA Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP) provides long term, 20-year financing that enables the construction of projects that improve air quality and reduce carbon pollution such as the Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Digester Project,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “We appreciate the good working relationship that has been developed with the team at Greater Commercial Lending and we are pleased to have Magnolia Bank as the new primary lender for the AB-2 phase of the project.”

Aemetis Biogas has built and is fully operating dairy biogas digesters for seven dairies, a 40-mile biogas pipeline, the central biogas-to-RNG production facility and the PG&E gas utility interconnection unit. When completed, the biogas digesters for the combined 15 dairies are designed to produce more than 400,000 MMBtus per year of carbon negative renewable natural gas.

The long-term, 20-year project financing was guaranteed by the USDA through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) and carries approximately an 8.75% fixed interest rate for the first five years. With two REAP loans closed and three more REAP loans in process, Aemetis Biogas is currently arranging $125 million of 20-year debt funding for the development, construction and operation of the Aemetis Central Dairy Digester project which has already signed 37 dairies and plans to build digesters for 65 dairies within the next 60 months.