North Dakota RTE the first to join voluntary carbon market
While several flyover states work to decide on how to handle carbon pipelines, a project in North Dakota is taking on carbon storage themselves.
Red Trail Energy is a 64 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant in the Western part of the state. They have joined a voluntary carbon market, and say they are the first ethanol plant in the world to do it. They store carbon on-site, in a well 6,500 feet below the facility.
Since 2022, they have taken in nearly 250,000 tons of CO2. One ton can generate one credit, and those can be bought by companies looking to offset their carbon emissions.
The CEO of Eco-Engineers says he hopes more ethanol plants will follow suit.
Gevo’s Acquisition of Assets in North Dakota Proceeds Following Approval Vote by Red Trail Energy’s Equity Holders
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 11, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading developer of net-zero hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals, is pleased to announce that its planned acquisition of the ethanol production plant and carbon capture and sequestration (“CCS”) assets of Red Trail Energy, LLC (“Red Trail Energy”), passed an important milestone as the equity holders of Red Trail Energy voted overwhelmingly to approve the transaction. This acquisition will accelerate Gevo’s mission to transform renewable carbon and photosynthetic energy into net-zero liquid transportation fuels and chemicals while abating carbon.
“On behalf of the entire team at Gevo, and our board of directors, stakeholders, shareholders, investors, and customers and industry partners, we would like to thank the equity holders of Red Trail Energy for approving the acquisition,” said Gevo CEO, Dr. Patrick Gruber. “With this investment, Gevo will be set on a path to becoming self-sustaining and profitable as a company in advance of our Net-Zero 1 project coming online. This acquisition also enables an ideal location for a ‘Net-Zero North’ plant to produce sustainable aviation fuel (“SAF”). It also mitigates risk around carbon sequestration for our Net-Zero 1 plant site in South Dakota.”
Gevo is acquiring the Red Trail Energy ethanol production assets and the CCS assets, both based in Richardton, North Dakota, for $210 million in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments. The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2025, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, including procurement of financing for the acquisition. Gevo expects that these businesses, with the capability to create and deliver valuable biogenic carbon credits in conjunction with the delivery of advanced liquid fuels should deliver superior value to its shareholders.
“We believe these assets are ideal for furthering Gevo’s mission to create price-competitive domestic bio-based production pathways for SAF using Gevo’s integrated alcohol-to-jet technology and defossilized energy, combined with CCS,” said Dr. Chris Ryan, President and COO of Gevo. “The CCS well gives us optionality for our Net-Zero-1 carbon sequestration as well as regional synergies with Net-Zero 1, under development in Lake Preston, South Dakota, our development facility in Luverne, Minnesota, and our renewable natural gas (“RNG”) operations in Northwest Iowa. As Net-Zero 1 and other production facilities come online, the infrastructure and resources that we will have acquired in North Dakota offer tremendous flexibility for how we might operate in the area.”
Take a deep dive into Red Trail Energy’s Bioethanol
Founded in 2003, Red Trail Energy LLC (RTE) is a North Dakota-based investor group. “We are focused on financing, constructing, and, since 2007, operating a 50-million-gallon name-plate capacity corn-based bioethanol production facility near Richardton, North Dakota,” opens Jodi Johnson, CEO of RTE. “RTE is 100 percent investor-owned and governed by a board of directors encompassing seven members,” she adds.
Jodi explains in greater detail what RTE’s production footprint looks like. “Each year, RTE produces 65 million gallons of bioethanol, utilizing 23 million bushels of corn. In simpler terms, one bushel of corn enables us to generate 2.85 gallons of bioethanol. This bioethanol serves as a sustainable fuel in the transportation sector. Additionally, we specialize in manufacturing coproducts. Per year, this includes 125,000 tons of dried distillers grains, 80,000 tons of modified distillers grains, 25,000 tons of syrup, all of which are sold as animal feed, and 20 million pounds of distillers corn oil, which acts as a feedstock for second generation biofuel,” she enlightens.
South 8 Energy, LLC 