Raven SR Inc. (Raven SR), a renewable fuels company specialising in producing clean hydrogen from waste, has announced that it has received its final Air Permit and Authority to Construct (ATC) from the Bay Area Air District (BAAD), authorising construction of the first facility in California, US, to convert diverted organic waste into renewable hydrogen through a non-combustion steam/CO2 reforming process.
Located at Republic Services’ closed West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill, the facility will process up to 99 wet tpd of organic waste, producing approximately 2400 tpy of renewable hydrogen. The diverted organic waste will help California meet SB1383 diversion mandates and potentially avoid up to 7200 tpy of CO2 emissions from the landfill.
Hydrogen will be collected daily by offtake partners and supplied to regional fuelling stations serving both passenger and commercial fuel cell vehicles, supporting California’s decarbonisation and zero-emission transportation goals. Hydrogen will not be stored on-site.
“Receiving the ATC marks a major milestone for Raven SR, the City of Richmond, and the broader hydrogen economy,” said Matt Murdock, CEO of Raven SR. “This facility will commercially demonstrate that we can convert waste that would otherwise emit methane and turn it into clean hydrogen without combustion or toxic emissions. At a time when many hydrogen projects have stalled or been cancelled, Raven SR’s Richmond facility will stand as proof that innovation and persistence still win. We believe it will set a new benchmark for waste-to-hydrogen projects globally, and positions Raven years ahead of other developers in bringing clean hydrogen from waste to market.”
“Raven SR’s Richmond facility represents a critical step toward cutting California’s most damaging climate pollutants – methane and black carbon – by turning landfill-bound organic waste into clean hydrogen,” said Julia Levin, Executive Director of the Bioenergy Association of California. “Reducing these short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) provides immediate climate and public-health benefits while advancing the state’s clean-fuel transition.
“California and the City of Richmond are leading the transition to a clean hydrogen economy, and projects like Raven SR’s demonstrate how innovation can turn waste challenges into clean-energy and workforce opportunities,” commented Eduardo Martinez, Richmond Mayor. “This project reflects the type of investment and perseverance needed to achieve Richmond’s and the state’s clean-air and decarbonisation goals.”
“This project demonstrates how innovation and environmental protection can go hand in hand,” said Gabe Quinto, President, California League of Cities, Board Member of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Mayor Pro Tem for the City of El Cerrito, and Vice Chair of MCE Clean Energy. “By converting organic waste into clean hydrogen fuel, Raven SR is helping reduce methane emissions and improve local air quality for communities long impacted by pollution.”
The permitting process spanned more than five years, including three and a half years of BAAD review. Raven SR expressed appreciation for the decisive leadership of BAAD’s Executive Officer Dr Philip Fine and Principal Deputy Executive Officer Dr Meredith Bauer, who advanced the permit to completion after administrative delays.
With the Authority to Construct (ATC) now issued, Raven SR is completing final engineering revisions required by the permit conditions and preparing building permit packages for submission to the City of Richmond. Given the late timing of the year, the company anticipates holding a groundbreaking in early 2026, followed by full construction once project financing is finalised.
With this air permit, Raven SR becomes the first company in California to achieve full environmental and air-quality approvals for a waste-to-hydrogen facility. Due to the extended permitting timeline and inflation, project costs have risen to approximately US$75 million, financed primarily through private equity partnerships. The company will leverage the Inflation Reduction Act 45V credit, but has used no federal grant funding.
The Richmond project is owned by Raven SR S1 LLC, a Raven SR subsidiary. Chevron New Energies is collaborating on the project, which Raven SR will operate. Chevron, ITOCHU, Ascent Funds, Samsung Ventures, and RockCreek are strategic investors in Raven SR.
The Raven SR technology is a non-combustion, non-catalytic thermal, chemical reductive process that converts organic waste and landfill gas to hydrogen and Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuels. Its steam/CO2 reformation does not require fresh water as a feedstock and uses less than half the energy of electrolysis. The process is more efficient than conventional hydrogen production and can deliver fuel with low to negative carbon intensity. Additionally, Raven SR’s goal is to generate as much of its own power onsite as possible to reduce reliance on and/or be independent of the grid. Its modular design provides a scalable means to locally produce renewable hydrogen and synthetic liquid fuels from local waste.