SunGas Renewables Chooses Louisiana For Proposed Facility

SunGas Renewables, an independent division of GTI Energy, announced it is considering an investment of approximately $1.8 billion to establish a renewable low-carbon methanol production facility in Pineville, Louisiana. The company projects its facility, Beaver Lake Renewable Energy (BLRE), would manufacture nearly 400,000 metric tons of green methanol per year for SunGas customers worldwide.

Green methanol is a low-carbon fuel that is made from carbon dioxide and either biomass or renewable electricity. Fuel produced by BLRE would source wood fiber from local timber and have a negative carbon intensity as a result of the facility’s planned use of carbon capture and storage at a sequestration site to be determined, the company says.

The Danish shipping and logistics company A.P. Moller-Maersk has signed a letter of intent for an offtake agreement with SunGas to purchase fuel from the proposed Pineville facility for its fleet of methanol-powered container vessels.

“Using biomass from sustainably managed forestry along with carbon capture allows our project to generate green marine shipping fuel while simultaneously removing carbon from the atmosphere,” SunGas Renewables CEO Robert Rigdon says. “As we continue our mission to make a meaningful impact in the energy transition, we look forward to collaborating with all our project partners and the state of Louisiana to construct and operate this important project. This incredible effort happening right here in Pineville will be an innovative and industry leading low-carbon energy solution that will help fuel a better world.”

BLRE would be built at the site of the former International Paper facility in Rapides Parish, which has been vacant since 2009. A front-end engineering and design (FEED) study on the site is planned in October. The company expects to make a final investment decision in August 2024, and to begin construction beginning by the end of that year. It anticipates commercial operations to commence in 2027.

To support the project in Pineville, the state of Louisiana has prepared a competitive incentives package that includes the comprehensive workforce development solutions of LED FastStart and a $6 million performance-based grant for infrastructure improvements upon meeting investment and employment targets. If the project moves forward, the company is expected to participate in the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.