New Energy Risk, an insurer for renewable technology projects, has provided RES Polyflow, a plastics-to-fuel technology company, with a performance insurance program designed by AXA XL.
The policy will mitigate technology risk for financiers interested in investing in RES Polyflow’s Ashley, Indiana plant, which will be the first commercial-scale plastics-to-fuel project in the U.S.
Once completed, the facility will convert 100,000 tons of plastic into 18 million gallons of fuel and six million gallons of wax annually.
By working with New Energy Risk (NER), RES Polyflow has reduced the overall cost of project capital, increased the certainty of execution, and made the bond offering more attractive to investors.
RES Polyflow and its parent development company, Brightmark Energy, financed this deployment by raising an aggregate amount of $260 million, including $185 million in Indiana green bonds, underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co.
The plastics-to-fuel pyrolysis process used by RES Polyflow sustainable recycles waste that has reached the end of its useful life, including items that cannot readily be recycled, such as plastic film, flexible packing, Styrofoam, and children’s toys.
The Indiana plant superheats and then converts plastic into ultra-low sulfur diesel and naphtha blend stocks, as well as commercial grade wax, and could even turn the output back into plastic in future.
“New Energy Risk’s technology insurance solution was a critical factor in completing the financing for this project,” said Jay Schabel, President of Brightmark Energy’s plastics division and of RES Polyflow.”
“We have worked closely with New Energy Risk to assess the technical aspects of our project and design an innovative insurance solution,” he continued. “NER’s involvement successfully lowered our capital cost and served to raise bondholder interest in the project.”
Tom Dickson, CEO of New Energy Risk, also commented: “We’re proud to have supported Brightmark and RES Polyflow in their capital raise and are excited to see their leading plastics-to-fuel technology convert plastic waste into millions of gallons of low-carbon fuels.”
“Brightmark is leading the way in providing a technology solution to the world’s plastic waste problem, while replacing traditional fossil fuels in the process,” Dickson added. “We look forward to continue supporting their work in the years to come.”
In total, NER has now supported $1.6B in renewable project financing, which it claims will lead to over 500,000 tons of waste processed into 50M gallons of biofuel every year.
