Summit Next Gen Closes on Site Acquisition and Provides Key Updates on its Project to Develop the World's Largest Ethanol to Jet Sustainable Aviation Fuel Facility
September 16, 2024
Strategic site location on the Houston Ship Channel with close proximity to significant existing infrastructure provides unmatched connectivity to both feedstock supply and SAF demand markets
Robert T. Halpin selected to serve as Chief Executive Officer
Successfully completed substantial development capital raise to finance site acquisition, continue the build out of the broader management team and advance the final phase of engineering and project design
ALDEN, Iowa, Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Next Gen, LLC ("Summit Next Gen" or the "Company") today announced it has closed on its site acquisition for the future development of its previously announced sustainable aviation fuel ("SAF") production platform that will revolutionize the global aviation industry by providing a scalable supply of low-carbon jet fuel. Strategically located on the Houston Ship Channel, the selected 60-acre site location will provide Summit Next Gen with substantial optionality to leverage existing and planned marine, pipeline, rail and other logistics infrastructure to cost competitively source ethanol feedstock for the facility and deliver produced SAF to all major demand markets on behalf of its offtake customers both domestically and internationally. The purchase and sale agreement for the site also provides Summit Next Gen with an exclusive option to purchase an additional 40-acre contiguous tract, which would enable capital efficient expansions as SAF demand continues to grow into the future.
The site acquisition was financed via equity from a successful development capital fundraising round, with support from existing and new investors in Summit Next Gen. The remaining capital commitments will be utilized primarily to advance Summit Next Gen's final phase of engineering and project design for the facility in collaboration with the Company's selected EPC provider, Burns & McDonnell, and licensed process technology from Honeywell UOP, and to continue building out the broader management team. As a result of these fundraising efforts, Summit Next Gen has raised all the required capital to advance its project to a final investment decision ("FID"), which is expected in 2025.
Additionally, in June 2024, Robert Halpin joined Summit Next Gen to serve as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Halpin brings significant leadership experience having previously spent over a decade in various executive roles at Crestwood Equity Partners, a publicly traded energy midstream infrastructure company, most recently serving as President and overseeing the execution of Crestwood's long-term strategy through the ultimate oversight of commercial, operations, engineering and project management, sustainability, capital allocation and financial activities.
"Summit Next Gen's ongoing success represents a continuation of our strategy to leverage our deep roots in the agricultural and ethanol industries to drive substantial value creation for all of our stakeholders, including the many communities in which we live, invest and operate," said Bruce Rastetter, Founder and Executive Chairman of Summit Agricultural Group. "The completion of this project and commencement of operations will facilitate the creation of the first at-scale ETJ SAF production facility providing critical new markets for our agricultural and ethanol feedstock partners and helping to bridge the supply shortage of SAF globally, as demand for continued decarbonization efforts for the aviation industry exponentially increase."
"Summit Next Gen continues to deliver on key milestones towards successfully executing this transformational project," said Justin Kirchhoff, Chief Executive Officer of Summit Agricultural Group. "Bringing Robert on board to lead our efforts as CEO of the Company, closing on our strategic site acquisition on the Houston Ship Channel, and successfully completing our next round of development capital fundraising positions Summit Next Gen to advance our final phase of engineering and project design with Burns & McDonnell and Honeywell UOP, continue building out the management team under Robert's leadership, and aggressively advance our commercial offtake discussions to position the Company for FID by mid-year 2025 and commence operations in 2027."
About Summit Next Gen
Summit Next Gen is a sustainable aviation fuel production platform established to develop, construct and operate the world's largest ethanol to jet SAF production facility located on the Houston Ship Channel. Summit Next Gen is a portfolio company of Summit Ag Investors, the investment management arm of Summit Agricultural Group.
About Summit Agricultural Group
Summit Agricultural Group is a diversified agribusiness operator and investment manager with operations in the United States and Brazil. Summit deploys capital across the agricultural supply chain with a particular focus at the intersection of agriculture and renewable energy. For more information, visit: www.summitag.com