Aemetis Allocated $10.5 Million IRA Section 48C Tax Credits by DOE and IRS for Biofuels Plant Efficiency Projects

CUPERTINO, CA, April 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on low and negative carbon intensity products, today announced that it received an allocation of $10.5 million of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the first phase of IRA Section 48C awards.

The Aemetis Five Year Plan projects that Aemetis will receive a total of $450 million of IRA tax credits to support funding of its renewable fuels projects. In October 2023, Aemetis completed the sale of $63 million of IRA tax credits to a single buyer and received $55 million in funding.

Aemetis was awarded the $10.5 million allocation of transferable tax credits to support the Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) energy efficiency project and other energy efficiency projects at the Aemetis Keyes ethanol production facility in California. The competitive process for funding was managed by the DOE as an advisor to the IRS which selected recipients based on an extensive and detailed review of each project.

“The Inflation Reduction Act funds new job creation and supports new investment in projects in almost every state,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aemetis, Inc. “Late last year we demonstrated the conversion of IRA tax credits into funding for our projects, so monetization of the tax credits supports long term debt financing and, in the case of the MVR project, is expected to significantly increase operating cash flow from our existing biofuels plant in California.”

The MVR project and related upgrades are expected to cost about $30 million, with design engineering already completed and equipment procurement underway for planned installation in the first half of 2025. In addition to the $10.5 million of IRA tax credits, Aemetis already has been awarded $6 million of grant funding by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and has been approved for up to $3.2 million of additional funding from the Pacific Gas & Electric Energy Efficiency Program, pending project completion and verification of energy savings.