OMAHA, Neb. — Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) announced significant progress on its Advantage Nebraska carbon capture strategy, which remains on track for operation in the second half of 2025. This initiative positions Green Plains to become one of the first producers of low-carbon ethanol in the U.S., aligning with the newly revealed 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit.

“We are very pleased with the progress that Tallgrass has made on the Trailblazer CCS project,” said Todd Becker, president and CEO of Green Plains. “Tallgrass has secured all the rights of way for the laterals to connect our Nebraska plants, and all Class VI sequestration well permits have been issued, allowing us to stay firmly on schedule. Construction of the compression infrastructure is planned to begin in February, with the delivery of the compression equipment anticipated for the second quarter.”

With construction of the laterals set to begin in 2024, Green Plains is on schedule to sequester 800,000 tons of biogenic carbon dioxide annually from its Central City, Wood River, and York, Nebraska facilities. Becker highlighted that the compression equipment is designed to scale, offering a potential carbon capture capacity of up to 1.2 million tons per year.

The 45Z GREET model recently released by the U.S. government provides further advantages for corn ethanol, including reducing carbon intensity (CI) scores by approximately 32 points with carbon capture. Becker noted, “Based on the most recent GREET model, our Central City facility, for example, has a base CI score of 51, and with carbon capture in place, it would be at 19 as a new starting point. Our low-CI corn oil should now be further advantaged relative to other feedstocks.”

This strategy is expected to significantly boost shareholder value. “We also believe the value of this is not reflected in our current share price as this project has the ability to create significant earnings and value creation opportunities for our shareholders by producing some of the lowest carbon intensity fuel in the world,” Becker said.

Green Plains is preparing to leverage these low CI scores not only for federal tax credits but also in state low-carbon fuel markets and private carbon credit markets. Additionally, the company plans to position itself as a key supplier of low-carbon feedstocks for alcohol-to-jet sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as that market develops.

With the compression infrastructure construction starting in early 2024 and operations beginning in 2025, the Advantage Nebraska strategy marks a major step forward in low-carbon biofuel production for Green Plains and the U.S. renewable energy market.