Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced the closing of a green loan and ancillary revolving credit facility for Lynchburg Renewable Fuels, LLC, a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) created to fund the development, construction and operation of a renewable-energy-from-waste project designed to serve the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Lynchburg, TN. The credit facilities were arranged by MUFG using the LSTA Green Loan Principles.

The financing backs a partnership formed by 3 Rivers Energy Partners and TC Energy that will construct and operate an anaerobic digestion and biogas upgrading plant. The facility will convert a byproduct of the Jack Daniel’s distilling process into pipeline-grade renewable natural gas and liquid fertilizer through a biological process involving anaerobic digesters, reducing waste in a way that creates clean energy and supporting local agriculture.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 2024. Once operations begin, renewable natural gas will be produced and delivered to a local natural gas utility via pipeline and marketed by an affiliate of TC Energy. Liquid fertilizer will be processed and stored for distribution to farmers to meet local demand.

“We are proud to have contributed to the ability of the team at 3 Rivers to realize the full potential of this project,” said Chris Buckingham, Director, Project Finance, MUFG. “Our objective was to meet the needs of our client and in doing so support the deployment of new energy infrastructure for renewable fuels, which is essential to achieving sustainable growth going forward. This transaction is representative of our continued efforts to play a lead role in supporting the development of renewable and sustainable energy through MUFG’s project finance offering.”

“This transaction was our first time working with MUFG and we found that the team understood what we were trying to achieve at Jack Daniel’s and focused on helping us solve problems to move it forward at every turn,” said John Rivers, Co-Founder and CEO, 3 Rivers Energy Partners. “In addition to arranging the debt financing, MUFG was instrumental in helping us to develop a commercial and financing structure aligned with our objectives and in finding the right partner for us to work with on this project.”