Green Rock Makes Its First Sustainable Infrastructure Investment
Green Rock Energy Partners LLC (Green Rock), a sustainable-infrastructure focused private equity firm which invests in renewable energy companies and projects, acquired a stake in Bio Town Biogas LLC (Bio Town), a producer of renewable power that is expanding into renewable natural gas (RNG), in partnership with Bio Town Ag (BTA) and lenders. The partial acquisition closed in Q3 2021.
In keeping with Green Rock’s primary investment focus on waste-to-value energy assets, Bio Town sources food waste, dairy manure, beef manure, and other agriculture waste to produce renewable electricity, renewable heat, and RNG. The project, located in Reynolds, Indiana, is expected to produce more than 42 million kW hours of renewable power per year, while also producing more than three million gallons of renewable fuel per year. Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) will provide the renewable power offtake, while United Energy Trading and others will provide the RNG offtake. “We are excited to work with our partners at BTA to build one of the largest and most economically efficient projects in the RNG and renewable power space” said Andrew Kelleher, co-founder and managing partner of Green Rock.
The Bio Town facility supports more than 50 full-time jobs. Previously, Bio Town’s renewable power assets were owned fully by BTA, a multi-generational family farm that has been in the agricultural community for decades. BTA spun off the power business to Bio Town in order to jointly partner with Green Rock and expand its RNG business.
A variety of partners supported Green Rock and BTA in the Bio Town deal. DVO, Inc. and Clarke Energy will provide the digester, biogas, combined heat and power (CHP) engines, biogas upgrading technology, and local service support. Montrose Environmental and Venture Engineering & Construction provided engineering services. First Farmers Bank and Trust led the debt financing, and Gutwein Law acted as the legal advisor to Bio Town.
Green Rock, led by five veterans of the traditional commodities sector now investing in carbon-neutral solutions, deploys equity capital within the circular economy to develop, purchase, and operate environmentally responsible and financially attractive businesses and infrastructure. The firm’s leaders leverage their experience and expertise as advisors, owners, and operators to source, structure, and negotiate opportunities to create superior risk-adjusted returns in the renewable energy sector.
“We are thrilled to partner with the talented team at Green Rock on Bio Town,” said Brian Furrer, President of BTA. “The team’s commodities expertise and professional network plays a crucial role in the successful growth of our power business and our expansion into the RNG business.”
“We would like to thank the BTA team and all of the vendors for their hard work and tireless efforts,” added Chad Hoerr, General Manager of Bio Town.
“We are extremely appreciative of the hard work and dedication of the BTA team, which played a key role in the spin out of Bio Town, and we will continue to contribute to the successful elevation and expansion of the company,” added Martin Mitchell, co-founder and managing partner of Green Rock.
