Strategic Biofuels to submit Part II application for US DOE loan guarantee

Strategic Biofuels announced March 8 that it has been invited by the U.S. DOE Loan Programs Office to submit a Part II application for a proposed $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 that could ultimately result in a conditional commitment and final loan from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Financing Bank, guaranteed by 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 [Louisiana Green Fuels] project’s financing,” said Strategic Biofuels CEO Paul Schubert. “We believe the loan-guarantee program is a shining example of the U.S. government’s commitment to decarbonizing the transportation sector. We are proud that our Louisiana Green Fuels project met the stringent Part I requirements and we look forward to working closely with DOE to fulfill the requirements of Part II of the application process.”

Since the company announced its sequestration test-well program completed in 2021 and confirmed the plant’s ability to achieve carbon negativity, Strategic Biofuels and its Louisiana Green Fuels project team has made progress winning the support of local government, the broader Caldwell Parish community, the Louisiana governor’s office, state legislature, and national entities from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the U.S. Forestry Service and more.

Life Cycle Associates has scored Louisiana Green Fuels’ carbon intensity at minus 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, Strategic Biofuels, alongside Louisiana state officials and the Port of Columbia held a groundbreaking ceremony kicking off construction in support of the Louisiana Green Fuels project funded by a $15 million grant to the port through the state’s Port Priority Program and a $509,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority.

The Port of Columbia has also been awarded a $1 million grant from DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency through their Port Security Grant Program for critical infrastructure.

Strategic Biofuels noted that 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, or that DOE will offer a term sheet to an applicant, issue a loan guarantee, or that the terms and conditions of a loan guarantee will be consistent with terms proposed by an applicant.