Summit Carbon Solutions, the developer of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage infrastructure project, is boosting its financial capabilities with substantial equity funding efforts.
The company announced on May 11th that TPG Rise Climate – TPG Inc.’s climate impact investing fund, is committing $300 million to accelerate the project’s developers ambitions to decarbonize industrial sites across several US states.
“We could not be more pleased to have TPG Rise Climate as an investor in Summit Carbon Solutions. From the outset, we always knew that successfully executing this project would require expertise and perspective from a wide variety of industries, including agriculture, biofuels, infrastructure, and energy, and we’re proud to say that Summit is joined by world class partners and investors across that spectrum, now including TPG Rise Climate,” said Justin Kirchhoff, President of Summit Ag Investors.
The announced support by TPG comes on top of the recently announced investment from SK E&S of $110 million for a 10% share of the company.
Relevant: SK E&S Acquires 10% Of Summit Carbon Solutions’ Project In A $110M Deal
Continental Resources also stated in March 2022 it will commit $250 million over the next two years to help fund the development and construction of the project’s associated capture, transportation, and sequestration infrastructure.
Continental also plans to leverage its operational and geologic expertise to help ensure the safe and secure storage of CO2. That investment comes in addition to a previously announced fundraising effort that including participation from Continential Resources, exceeds in a total of $600 million.
Financial support is now coming to more than $1 billion which would go towards project implementation and development.
Relevant: Continental Resources To Invest $250 Million In Iowa CO2 Pipeline
“We have been highly selective with our capital raise by searching for partners who share our vision and who bring unique abilities to add value to the company,” adds Bruce Rastetter, CEO of Summit Agricultural Group.
In April 2022, Summit also agreed to collaborate jointly with Minnkota Power Cooperative to develop carbon dioxide storage facilities near Center, North Dakota. The two companies are currently partnering on Minnkota’s Project Tundra which aims to install carbon capture technologies at the Milton R. Young Station in North Dakota.
The installation hopes to capture up to 90% of the carbon dioxide emissions from the Unit 2 generation of a lignite coal-burning plant.
Now under the new agreement, Summit would have access to Minnkota’s already permitted 100-million-ton capacity CO2 storage site, the largest of only three such permitted sites in the US. The partnership also creates a framework to jointly develop additional CO2 storage resources nearby having a storage capacity of more than 200 million tons.
The carbon capture pipeline developer has so far signed 32 corn-based ethanol plants and a fertilizer producer under development in North Dakota to sequester their carbon emissions for storage.
The company is in talks with other potential partners. The recent equity fundraising success would place it in a better position to develop the project and attract more potential clients.
