Renewable-diesel manufacturing company plans Las Vegas operations
A renewable-diesel manufacturing company is setting up shop in Las Vegas.
Ryze Renewables makes 100 percent renewable diesel fuel from distiller’s corn oil and other non-food feedstock.
Ryze CEO Matthew Pearson said those raw materials will largely come by rail from the Midwest, and, he hopes, from casino restaurants.
“We’ve started talking to some suppliers in here in Las Vegas and are trying to assess the size of the marketplace,” Pearson said. He earlier joked, “Casinos don’t like to leave their grease overnight,” while discussing his company’s tax abatement application with Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Expanding before operating
Ryze Renewables received tax abatements last year to set up a $140 million diesel plant at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center. Pearson said that facility is slated to produce 40 million gallons of renewable diesel once operational. Equipment is starting to move into the facility, he said.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development board approved an additional $9.4 million in tax abatements Thursday for the company to set up shop in North Las Vegas, repurposing an existing biodiesel processing facility for a total investment of about $187 million. The operation in North Las Vegas is expected to produce 4,500 barrels per day.
Federal requirements for low carbon-emitting diesel along with California’s requirement for low carbon-emitting diesel is providing demand for Ryze product, Pearson said.
A “Fortune 30 company,” as Pearson described it, has already agreed to purchase the entirety of the Renewable Diesel product for use in the southern California market.
Ryze plans to hire 67 employees at an average hourly wage of $26.16. The company is expected to generate about $9.5 million in new tax revenue over ten years.
Other actions
In other action, the board approved spending more than $3.9 million in tax abatements in return for more than $32 million in new tax revenue, including:
— Scientific Games Inc. will receive about $403,239 in tax abatements and is estimated to generate about $9.3 million in new tax revenue over 10 years. After a merger with Bally Gaming Inc. and WSM Industries Inc., the company plans to renovate its headquarters in Las Vegas, according to the company’s tax abatement application. Scientific Games plans to hire about 50 new employees at an average hourly wage of $30.86 within the next two years.
— eCig Distributors Inc. will receive about $72,131 in tax abatements and is estimated to generate about $4 million in new tax revenue over 10 years. The company, which sells and ships vapor products to 48 U.S. states and 83 countries, plans to lease a 33,819 square foot distribution facility in Las Vegas. eCigs plans to hire 55 employees at an hourly wage of $21.42 an hour. The company plans to partner with UNLV to deploy a recruitment program targeted at local students to fill part-time positions, according to the company’s tax abatement application.
— Geofortis Pozzolans LLC. will receive about $1.5 million in tax abatements and is estimated to generate about $12 million in new tax revenue over 10 years. The company supplies natural pozzolan minerals, formed by volcanic ash deposited over thousands of years ago in a California lake, to the concrete industry in the western U.S. Geofortis Pozzolans already has facilities in Reno and Moraga, California, but plans to expand and build a new 30,000 square foot mineral processing facility in Reno. The company is slated to hire 72 employees at an average hourly wage of $22.89 per hour within two years of processing operations.
— SA Automotive Ltd. will receive about $276,933 in tax abatements and is estimated to generate about $3.5 million in new tax revenue over ten years. SA Automotive supplies automotive interior trim to clients like Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The company plans to expand operations from current locations in Michigan and Puebla, Mexico, to Reno. It plans to hire 54 employees at an average hourly wage of $20.27 from the Reno area within the next two years.
— Asia Union Electrical Chemical Corp. Inc. will receive about $1.7 million in tax abatements and is estimated to generate about $3.4 million in new tax revenue over 10 years. The company, which is headquartered in Taiwan, produces and distributes manufacturing products to the global microelectronics industry. The corporation is planning to open its North American headquarters in Northern Nevada, about 13 miles east of the Reno Tahoe Industrial Park, according to its tax abatement application. The company plans to hire 30 employees within the next two years at an average hourly wage of $30.87, and anticipates growing to 100 employees witin five years.
Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter. Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
Sandoval on Ryze Renewables
Ryze Renewables intersects with several of the state's targeted industries.
"It's advanced manufacturing, it's renewable energy — those are two of the big sectors we've wanted to capitalize on," said Gov. Brian Sandoval. "It's just another example of how we're starting to diversify."
The company also falls into the logistics category moving raw materials into Nevada and moving product into Southern California.
"They're going to be making over a $200 million investment in Southern Nevada," Sandoval said. "It's just another great brick in the wall in terms of building a very strong and robust state."
