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Carbonfuture Closes Series A Round, Led by SIX, to Transform Global Carbon Removal Market
Carbonfuture Closes Series A Round, Led by SIX, to Transform Global Carbon Removal Market
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2010
Second facility scheduled for completion by June 2026
Will remove 4,500 tonnes of CO2 per year beginning in 2025
Built California's first community scale forestry-fueled biomass plant; helps eliminate the equivalent of 460 wildfires every year
Plans to remove a total of 2.8M MT of CO2 over the next decade
California, USA
Despite a proven model and a talented and experienced leadership team, Phoenix Energy faced headwinds due to events out of their control, such as the COVID pandemic and a PG&E bankruptcy, making financing of their carbon removal project in California’s Sierra Mountains much more challenging.
Carbonfuture worked with Phoenix Energy to produce an advance market commitment, helping them to secure additional funding to bridge the gap. As part of Carbonfuture MRV+’s carbon removal supplier support services, this helped boost investor confidence, enabling Phoenix Energy to complete their first project and begin scaling operations.
2020 was a challenging time for many, but it was proving to be a uniquely challenging year for the team at Phoenix Energy. Since their inception in 2010, they had worked to build what they call a “community-scale carbon removal” plant in North Fork, California, a small community in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Upon completion, this plant would take local forest biomass, a known contributor to wildfires, and transform it into electricity, heat and biochar.
However, the COVID pandemic was in full swing and the team at Phoenix Energy was looking to bolster their drive to obtain the necessary equity. Interest rates had shot up, and their major partner, Pacific Gas & Electric, was in the process of emerging from a $58 billion bankruptcy filing.
While Phoenix Energy already had a power purchase agreement (PPA) from PG&E, they needed something extra to take it to the bank. What was needed was a guarantee: something that they could take to banks and investors to ease their concerns and show that the project would be successful. That’s where Carbonfuture came in.
"Carbonfuture’s advance purchase agreement for our carbon removal credits enabled us to complete our first plant and set the stage for future growth. They were willing to place a bet on us and have been fantastic partners ever since. We especially value their steadfast commitment to ensuring the highest quality of every credit and building a trusted CDR market."
Loni Austin
Vice President of Product, Phoenix Energy
As part of Carbonfuture MRV+’s supplier support services, the team worked with Phoenix Energy to support their potential in the carbon market.
“The team at Carbonfuture worked to craft an advance market commitment for the carbon removal credits this project would eventually produce,” said Loni Austin, VP of Product at Phoenix Energy. “Equity was our biggest challenge, and building this agreement with Carbonfuture was vital for allowing us to access the funding we needed to complete the North Fork Community Power Plant.”
Carbonfuture also helped them as they began to navigate the complex biochar supply chain, putting them in touch with other partners, providing guidance to help them get certified, and help them along the path to achieving their goal of building the first of 50 carbon removal plants.
With the agreement in place, Phoenix Energy was able to finish construction of the North Fork facility, which will be commissioned in late 2024. Expected to remove 4,500 tonnes of CO2 per year starting in 2025 and generate 2 MW of vital electricity in a region prone to outages, the plant is also helping dramatically reduce the potential for wildfires. With the local forest biomass providing plenty of fuel to help accelerate the fires that sweep through the region on a regular basis, Phoenix Energy is helping to redirect this biomass into biochar and electricity, eliminating the equivalent of 460 fires each year.
At Carbonfuture, we build trust throughout the carbon removal journey with our rigorous, data-driven approach, ensuring unmatched quality and reliability of carbon removal.
