San Joaquin Renewables secures $165M to build orchard waste-based RNG project

In California, San Joaquin Renewables reached an agreement with Cresta Fund Management and Silverpeak Energy Partners to invest up to $165 million to develop and construct a biomass to renewable natural gas project near McFarland, California. Frontline BioEnergy, a leading provider of waste and biomass gasification solutions, is developing the project, which will take orchard residuals and shells from San Joaquin Valley farms and convert them into RNG that will be sold as transportation fuel.

The project will also sequester carbon dioxide in an EPA Class VI sequestration well located on the project site. When completed, SJR’s RNG facility will replace the current practice of open burning of agricultural waste with an enclosed system that will produce a non-fossil form of natural gas, capture and store carbon dioxide, and serve as a substitute to diesel; thereby reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Frontline BioEnergy, the project development team, was formed in 2005 to develop, manufacture, and construct biomass and waste gasification technologies. The management team has extensive gasification experience, with a history of successful development and operations, including its Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company facility that converted biomass waste into fuel gas for an ethanol plant.