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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