Gas Verde has won a 12-year US$48.6mn loan from the US Export-Import Bank (US Exim) to develop a biogas project in Brazil.

The loan, which will be used to export equipment and services, marks US Exim’s first financing for a biogas reclamation and development project.

Project owner, Gas Verde will operate the Novo Gramacho biogas plant located at the 140-hectare Jardim Gramacho landfill near Rio de Janeiro.

The biogas plant will convert the site’s methane gas into clean, usable biomethane gas. The project will make approximately 1.4 million metric tonnes of greenhouse-gas reductions a year, US Exim says.

US renewable-energy company FirmGreen Inc, as well as other US green-technology suppliers will provide the equipment for the project.