Cowboy Clean Fuels Announces Significant Funding Award to Support Commercialization of Technology and Build Out of Initial Project in Wyoming

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Jan 17, 2024, 07:04 ET

The Wyoming Energy Authority has awarded CCF approximately $7.8 mm through the Energy Matching Funds program

Machan Investments, CCF's lead investor, has committed an additional $7.8 mm in equity capital to match and enable the funding award

GILLETTE, Wyo., Jan. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cowboy Clean Fuels, LLC ("CCF," "we," "us," "our," or "the Company"), a premier energy technology company formed to simultaneously, permanently sequester carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and produce carbon-negative, renewable natural gas ("RNG") from readily available agricultural byproducts utilizing proprietary, patented technology, today announced that it has been awarded approximately $7.8 million from the Wyoming Energy Authority ("WEA") through the Energy Matching Funds ("EMF") program. In addition, CCF's lead investor, Machan Investments ("Machan"), committed an additional $7.8 million in equity capital to match and enable the WEA funding. The WEA funds and the investor funds from Machan, totaling approximately $15.6 million, will support the commercialization of CCF's technology and the build-out of its first commercial project in Wyoming, the Triangle Unit Renewable Energy and Carbon Capture and Storage ("TRECCS") project. After receiving a Class V Underground Injection Control permit from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality in late 2023, the first-of-its-kind TRECCS project is permitted and ready to sequester CO2 and produce RNG at commercial volumes.

Steve Farkas, CCF's Executive Vice President of Business Development, stated, "We are pleased to be recognized and awarded funds from Wyoming's EMF program and are grateful for the unwavering support of Machan, our lead investor. These funds come at a critical juncture as we move into the commercial phase of our first project. Wyoming is committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes advancing the carbon economy. The WEA's record of working with researchers, public and private sector entities, stakeholders, and the international community to help find solutions and move carbon capture technology forward is well established. We are excited to be a strategic partner in these efforts and look forward to building this and many other projects in Wyoming that economically benefit the state, providing a strong return on investment for all Wyomingites."

In 2022 and 2023, the Wyoming Legislature appropriated a combined $150 million to the Office of the Governor to provide EMF for private or federal funding of research, demonstration, pilot projects or commercial deployment projects related to Wyoming's energy needs. The Governor has delegated the management of the EMF to the WEA to spur innovation and bring transformative energy projects to Wyoming, leading the way in providing the nation with the energy it requires to solve sustainability challenges without deteriorating reliability or affordability. CCF's technology and the TRECCS project are highly consistent with the "Decarbonizing the West" initiative that Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon is championing through his leadership of the Western Governors Association. The TRECCS project is one of eight innovative projects awarded EMF by the WEA through two rounds of awards.

CCF's innovative, field-tested process utilizes non-producing Coal Bed Methane ("CBM") wells and the existing infrastructure in the Powder River Basin to permanently sequester carbon dioxide and produce renewable methane through a naturally occurring biogenic process, akin to anaerobic digestion, that occurs in deep, geologic coal formations. The CBM industry was historically a significant economic contributor to Wyoming but has entered an irreversible decline that has rendered much of the $10 billion of existing energy infrastructure and the remaining CBM hydrocarbon resource uneconomic due to historically low natural gas prices. CCF's technology and process for the sequestration of carbon dioxide and production of renewable natural gas have the potential to restore economic viability to the area's energy infrastructure, restore jobs, and continue to support Gillette, Johnson, and Campbell Counties, ranchers, and other landowners through payment of mineral royalties, taxes, and surface rents.

CCF's TRECCS project represents innovative technology developed in Wyoming, that helps the state leverage existing assets and lead the way in renewable natural gas and CCUS. If fully scaled throughout the Powder River Basin, CCF's technology could enable Wyoming to be the largest producing state for both RNG and sequestered CO2, directly benefiting Wyoming's energy and agricultural industries, the state's economy, and its citizens.

The Company's proprietary technology was developed by Cowboy Clean Fuels Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Michael Urynowicz, Ph.D., at, and exclusively licensed from, the University of Wyoming's Center for Biogenic Natural Gas Research. The Company's world-class leadership team has over 100 years of experience in clean energy technology commercialization, upstream gas operations, and large-scale energy project development. Carbon Dioxide Removal ("CDR") and RNG are essential and quickly growing sectors addressing climate change, attracting billions in investment capital supporting the energy transition in recent years. The Company's technology is the first clean energy-positive process to result in the removal and sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide rather than simply reducing or preventing future emissions, resulting in broad-reaching environmental benefits. CCF expects the TRECCS project, when fully operational, to ultimately generate approximately 185,000 metric tons of verifiable CDR credits per year while producing approximately 0.7 billion cubic feet of RNG annually.

Susan Vick Dinges, Cowboy Clean Fuels Board Member, commented, "We are incredibly grateful to have been selected to receive energy matching funds from the WEA. Wyoming has a long history of making investments in its native resources that ultimately benefit the entire country. By supporting CCF, the state has done it again. After scaling up in Wyoming, we look forward to applying the CCF technology all around the world."

"We are proud to have this opportunity to partner with the WEA in this capital program for CCF, which supports an excellent management team and highly vetted business model to produce meaningful quantities of renewable natural gas and sequester CO2 at full-scale deployment," said Dan Dinges, Chairman of Machan Investments. "In our experience, the production levels possible on RNG and carbon sequestration are unparalleled in the current landscape and will position CCF for great commercial and technological success. CCF is revitalizing non-economic Coal Bed Methane production equipment in the Powder River Basin, breathing new life into meaningful assets in Wyoming with a technology developed at the University of Wyoming – localized success, scaling to regional and domestic expansion in the US."

ABOUT COWBOY CLEAN FUELS

Cowboy Clean Fuels is an emerging renewable energy technology company formed in 2020 with offices in Denver, Colorado and Gillette, Wyoming. Cowboy Clean Fuels' innovative, field-tested process utilizes non-producing Coal Bed Methane ("CBM") wells and infrastructure to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from agricultural byproducts through a naturally-occurring biogenic process, akin to anaerobic digestion, that occurs in deep, geologic formations. Coincident with RNG production, the process results in permanent sequestration of CO₂ that was removed from the atmosphere in the same deep geologic formations. The Company's proprietary and patented technology was developed by Cowboy Clean Fuels Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Michael Urynowicz, Ph.D., at, and exclusively licensed from, the University of Wyoming's Center for Biogenic Natural Gas Research. The Company's world-class leadership team has over 100 years of experience in clean energy technology commercialization, upstream gas operations, and large-scale energy project development.

ABOUT THE WYOMING ENERGY AUTHORITY

The Wyoming Energy Authority works collaboratively across public and private organizations to support the Wyoming energy industry that powers our nation by exporting 90% of its energy generating products to markets outside the state. As consumer sentiment changes and the demand for low-emissions energy products increases, the Wyoming Energy Authority has developed a cohesive, all-encompassing response to evolving market conditions. Please visit www.wyoenergy.org for more information.

MEDIA CONTACT

Noah Yates
Vice President – Finance and Strategy
(732) 608-3499
[email protected]

SOURCE Cowboy Clean Fuels