AVG Group Sarl (AVG) has invested $2,900,000 USD (25,000,000 NOK) (the “Investment”) into Arbaflame AS (“Arbaflame”). Arbaflame has created a unique biogas pellet that can supplement or replace coal in boilers and power plants. The Arbaflame pellet allows coal operators to utilize existing operations to continue power production and to keep employees working at the facilities instead of having to fire them. The solution can reduce coal’s carbon foot print up to 90%.
The Investment was part of an internal funding round into a convertible note that can be converted at any time. Investinor, a Norwegian government funded LP, is also a co-investor in Arbaflame. AVG is focused on investing into power producing technology across a variety of green alternatives. AVG finds strategic technology that can help build the bridge between fossil fuels and the next age of energy supply, also known as the energy transition. “Arbaflame fits strategically into our Nordic ESG and Impact theme, while delivering a well needed alternative solution to the coal industry,” states Karl Andersen, CEO of AVG.
Arbaflame started in 2010 with testing solutions for substituting coal. Through extensive research, Arbaflame was able to find a low cost solution utilizing bio-feedstock (sawdust) to create the pellets required to replace or supplement coal. The process of conversion is a fraction of the cost of converting to white pellets and should serve the coal market well. The first plant is now running with offtake agreements from Onyx Power (Netherlands), for the pellets and TFC (Belgium) for the biproduct of Furfur (alcohol) that is produced in the process. The biproducts, called ArbaRaf, consists of a variety of other bio-products that have a ready commercial market.
AVG manages the Nordic ESG and Impact Fund SCSp (the “Fund”). The strategy is to invest in energy transition technology (Climate Solutions) from fossil fuels to green alternatives. AVG invests into the local companies and then scales them globally. With offices in New York, Oslo and Luxembourg, the team delivers a global approach to ESG and Impact investing.
To view the note in AP News [The Associated Press], click here.