Ex-Im Bank Provides $48.6 Million in Financing for U.S. Green-Technology Exports to Biogas Project in Brazil
May 30, 2012
(Ex-Im Bank)
Export Generates 165 New Jobs in Seven States;
Project Helps Convert Environmental Hazard Into
Green-Energy Source
WASHINGTON, D.C.: FirmGreen Inc., a small
renewable-energy company based in Newport
Beach, Calif., and other U.S. green-technology
suppliers are benefiting from a $48.6 million
loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United
States (Ex-Im Bank) supporting exports of
equipment and services for the development of
the Novo Gramacho biogas project in Brazil.
FirmGreen estimated that the Novo Gramacho
project directly generated 165 new jobs at its
facilities and at other companies in seven
states: Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, California,
Michigan, Missouri and Texas. It also supported
jobs for FirmGreen and other U.S.-based
employees in Brazil providing construction
management services.
The transaction is Ex-Im Bank’s first financing
for biogas reclamation and development. Ex-Im’s
12-year loan was vital because long-term
financing for renewable-energy projects is
limited in Brazil. The U.S. exporter,
FirmGreen®, also faced competition from
European companies backed by their governments’
export-credit agencies.
The loan borrower, Gas Verde S.A., is the
project owner and will operate the Novo
Gramacho biogas plant located at the
140-hectare Jardim Gramacho landfill near Rio
de Janeiro. One of the world’s largest
solid-waste landfills, Jardim Gramacho was the
subject of “Waste Land,” an internationally
acclaimed documentary that was nominated for an
Academy Award in 2011. The biogas plant will
convert the site’s “dirty” methane gas (a
by-product of trash decomposition that lingers
for years and is more environmentally harmful
than carbon dioxide) into clean, usable
biomethane gas.
"We are very pleased to provide financing for
the Novo Gramacho biogas project. This project
has multiple benefits both in the United States
and in Brazil. It generated new jobs for highly
skilled workers in seven states across the
country. It also enables the Brazilian project
owner, Gas Verde, to convert an environmental
hazard into a green-energy source that will
reduce local emissions of greenhouse gases as
well," said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President
Fred P. Hochberg.
"The loan from Ex-Im Bank is instrumental to
positioning our green technology competitively
worldwide," stated FirmGreen CEO Steve Wilburn.
"We believe Americans can take global
leadership roles in renewable technologies, and
the confidence that Ex-Im Bank has demonstrated
by financing this project will help us do that.
Ex-Im's financing supports jobs for skilled
workers at FirmGreen and at numerous small
businesses across America related to the supply
chain for this project."
FirmGreen and its subcontracted companies
supplied proprietary biogas-cleaning equipment
run by FirmGreen's patented VerdeControls
operating software and other related services.
The biogas plant will capture and treat 20,000
normal cubic meters per hour (nM3/hr) of raw
landfill gas to produce 9,000 nM3/hr of
fuel-grade biomethane gas. The biomethane sold
under FirmGreen’s trademark will be transmitted
by pipeline to a nearby refinery owned and
operated by Petroléo Brasileiro S.A.
(Petrobras), Brazil’s national oil-and-gas
company.
The environmental benefits of the Novo Gramacho
project are substantial. Reclamation of the
biogas at the site will significantly reduce
passive landfill emissions to the atmosphere.
Moreover, biogas from the Novo Gramacho plant
will directly replace approximately 10 percent
of the natural gas derived from fossil-fuel
sources that is consumed at the Petrobras
refinery. Total greenhouse-gas reductions
associated with this project are estimated to
be approximately 1.4 million metric tons
annually. The effect is analogous to
eliminating the consumption of 160 million
gallons of gasoline or removing approximately
280,000 passenger vehicles from the road each
year.
FirmGreen Inc. is a privately held, integrated
energy company that participates in virtually
all aspects of the global green-energy
business. FirmGreen identifies, develops and
commercializes new and emerging technologies
and alternative fuels. The company has 37
employees at its headquarters in Newport Beach,
Calif., its lab and manufacturing plant in
Kokomo, Ind., and its green-energy
project-financing operations in New York City.
The company also has U.S.-based employees in
Brazil.
Guild Associates Inc., an engineering firm in
Dublin, Ohio, served as a major subcontractor.
The company fabricated the specialized
gas-cleaning equipment and is also assisting
during the start-up of the biogas plant.
Supporting U.S. renewable-energy and other
environmentally beneficial exports to
international markets is one of Ex-Im Bank’s
special initiatives. In fiscal year 2011, Ex-Im
Bank authorized a record $889 million to
support over $1.3 billion of U.S. exports of
environmentally beneficial goods and services.
More than 81 percent of these authorizations
supported exports related to renewable-energy
production.
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