Green tech company Carbon Engineering — located out on the oceanfront lands — announced this week it has raised $11 million to fund its expansion plans.
The company plans to expand its existing pilot plant and design a commercial air-to-fuels plant, “which will be the first in the world to commercially sell transportation fuels synthesized from air and clean electricity,” the company said in a news release.
The local company still needs council approvals to put its new fuel production plant on land in the Squamish Valley between the airport and the landfill.
The funds were raised from the company’s existing stakeholders, including board members and employees, and from some new investors, according to the release. The next stage in financing the plan will be equity financing —raising capital by selling company stock to investors.
“We’ve seen a very high level of interest and have had to ask many interested investors to wait for future investment rounds,” said Steve Oldham, CEO of Carbon Engineering, in the release.
“For CE, this investment enables us to aggressively accelerate our go-to-market strategy. We are now actively seeking strategic partners to work with us to build full-scale commercial facilities and customers interested in supply agreements for our ultra-low carbon fuel.”
If it comes to fruition, the commercial air-to-fuels facility will be capable of producing 320,000 litres of synthetic fuel per day, and capturing one million tons of CO₂ per year – the equivalent of the annual emissions of 250,000 average cars, the company says.
Carbon Engineering has also been hiring more staff as things ramp up.
Since Christmas, the company has seen a 33 per cent rise in full-time staff numbers with new positions spanning operations, engineering, research and development, business development, and public relations and marketing.
The company was founded in 2009 and from its Squamish pilot plant, has been capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere, and synthesizing it into “clean, affordable” transportation fuels since December 2017.
