Yosemite Clean Energy LLC (“Yosemite”) is a bioenergy development company that specializes in transforming farm and forest wood waste into carbon-negative hydrogen, providing renewable solutions to California’s transportation and broader energy sectors. Yosemite is developing a network of biofuel plants that are minority owned by the agricultural and forest communities they serve. California is facing an undersupply of renewable fuels while at the same time facing a significant oversupply of waste biomass due to wildfires, forest stewardship, and a transitioning fruit and nut industry; Yosemite solves both problems.
The company has site security on, and is in the midst of FEL3 detailed design engineering for, its flagship plant in Oroville, 60 miles north of Sacramento. The plant will produce 24 tons of hydrogen per day, enough to supply a fleet of nearly 500 class-8 trucks. Yosemite is marketing its fuel to truck fleets and transit authorities in Northern California that are being required to transition to ZEVs. Yosemite’s fuel will be eligible for numerous environmental and carbon credits, making its business model extremely lucrative.
Technology – Biomass-gasification is a commercially proven technology that has been used on an industrial scale in Europe for nearly 20 years. After employing Fluor to conduct a global engineering review to determine best-in-class technologies in 2018, Yosemite selected Aichernig Engineering (or “Repotec”) as its technology provider. With multiple deployments of its
technology and over 100,000 hours of commercial runtime, Repotec’s design is world class. The first plant built in 2003, which originally commercialized the dual-bed biomass gasification technology in Gussing, Austria, logged over 88,000 hours of commercial run-time between 2003 and 2015. Yosemite will employ this technology to convert biomass into syngas, with downstream conversion taking place using technologies already commercialized in the United States.
Access to Feedstock – Yosemite has 70% of its feedstock under long-term secured agreements, and is finalizing commitment of the last 30%. Yosemite’s feedstock providers are seed investorsin the project, and have a vested interest in the success of the project, aligning the interests of both parties. They are two of the largest wood managers in the project area, and manage over twice the wood necessary to operate the plant on a yearly basis. The Oroville plant requires an approximate 90,000 bone dry tons (BDT) of waste wood per year to operate at a 7,000 hour run-time. The amount of excess woody biomass within 50 miles could supply multiple equivalent plants, and Yosemite’s biogas plant will only consume a fraction of the biomass available in the county. Yosemite will utilize both forest and farm wood waste from within 50 miles of the project.
Management Team Experience – Yosemite Clean Energy and its development partners have extensive experience in every aspect of the project, including forestry, agriculture, banking, law, energy, engineering, and marketing. The management team has a successful track record as bioenergy, agricultural, and cleantech developers. Collectively, the team has managed more than $100 million of projects over their careers.
Since its incorporation, Yosemite has been cultivating relationships to form a team of globally recognized development partners. Yosemite’s world-class team include its owners engineers and preferred EPC – Primoris, its technology provider – Repotec, its investment bank – Hilltop Securities, its finance law firm – Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, its preferred operator –MMR, and its offtake marketer – Gunvor USA, among others.
Policy Engagement – Yosemite is a key participant within the Sustainable Market’s Initiative (www.sustainable-markets.org) and currently chairs the Hydrogen Transport and Storage workstream in support of lowering hydrogen supply chain costs. SMI companies have pledged over $260 billion to date as part of the global hydrogen energy transition. Through SMI,
Yosemite is leading a global report being published in 2023 on the current state and future developments of hydrogen storage and transport. Yosemite is also an active contributor to Federal and State policy development and, among other things, is involved in the EPA rulemaking to revise the Renewable Fuels Standard to include RINs from forest biomass that is
generated on federal and tribal forest lands. Through its affiliation with the Alternative Fuels and Chemicals Coalition, Yosemite is supporting a rulemaking approving hydrogen RINpathways, another significant support for the renewable hydrogen sector.
Market Size and Accessibility – As of 2020, the California demand for hydrogen is 2 billion kg and is used primarily for refining. The market for renewable hydrogen is expanding at an unprecedented rate due to industry motivation and government incentives to transition to a zero emission economy. Demand for renewable hydrogen in California is projected to be almost 300 million kg per year by 2030, and over 2.5 billion kg by 2050, based on a mid-scenario projection from the California Energy Commission. Through 2050, this demand will be generated primarily by the on-road transportation industry. In contrast, the supply of renewable hydrogen is almost non-existent today, creating a significant market opportunity.Yosemite is negotiating with Gunvor USA, one of the world’s largest commodities trading firms, to be its exclusive offtake marketer and manager. The company has extensive relationships in every energy sector globally, and is looking forward to partnering with Yosemite to expand it’s hydrogen trading desk.
Financial Model – The flagship project’s development costs are estimated at $246 million. These costs include capital expenses, development costs, working capital, and financing costs. The plant will generate revenues, based on estimated offtake values, of approximately $80 million per year in hydrogen including LCFS credits and IRA producer credits, with an estimated $30 million cash available for distribution after operating expenses and debt service. The near certainty of receiving federal RFS RIN credits adds an additional $20 million cash available for distribution at a RIN price of $2. These numbers are subject to final negotiations with offtakes and credit market prices.
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