Renewable natural gas reached a major milestone last year, surpassing conventional natural gas in terms of total gas consumed by vehicles, according to BloombergNEF’s Sustainable Energy Factbook, released this month. The stat follows other industry reports that have shown RNG is supplanting petroleum-based gas in vehicles that run with compressed natural gas engines.
The use of RNG on roads is expected to expand, in part due to new technology. Cummins is rolling out its X15N engine this year after customer testing in 2023. It’s the first 15-liter natural gas engine fit for heavy-duty trucks and long-haul applications. The company has described the engine as comparable to diesel engines with the same applications, and said it can run on RNG, opening up a new market for the fuel.
“All of a sudden there's this new segment of vehicles that have not been converted to RNG,” Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council, said. “If they all of a sudden start flipping all their tractors over to CNG... that creates a big market opportunity.”
That rising demand is good news for landfill operators and other companies looking to cash in on the biogas produced by decomposing organic materials. BloombergNEF reported that RNG production capacity grew 13% year over year in 2023. Landfill facilities continue to dominate the sector in terms of gas output, followed by digesters that process manure, food waste and wastewater.
The RNG industry continues to grow in multiple sectors. This month, new dairy digesters came online, landfill operations ramped up and a utility made its first investment in its own RNG facility.
Clean Energy Fuels opens two new RNG facilities
California-based Clean Energy Fuels opened two Midwestern RNG facilities this month, one each in Iowa and South Dakota. In a statement announcing the latter facility, the company's senior vice president for renewables said the company expects demand for RNG to pick up this year with the introduction of Cummins' 15-liter natural gas engine.
The Iowa facility, located at Marshall Ridge Dairy in State Center, uses three digesters to produce 1.7 million gallons of RNG annually, the company said in a Feb. 14 announcement. The facility cost about $42 million.
The South Dakota facility is located at the Tri-Cross Dairy in Viborg. It generates 1 million gallons of RNG annually and cost $34 million to complete. The facility was completed in December and Clean Energy announced operations on Feb. 8.
Clean Energy Fuels plans to apply for federal and state environmental credits at each facility. They were developed by Dynamic Renewables, part of an ongoing partnership between the two companies.
Waga Energy secures new financing for North American expansion
Asset manager Eiffel Investment Group is investing $60 million in Waga Energy as the French RNG company continues its North American expansion. The financing will support the development of four ongoing U.S. projects, including in Steuben County, New York.
All told, the four projects will generate a combined 1.98 million mmBtu of RNG annually. Waga had previously partnered with Eiffel to finance four French projects in 2020. In a statement, Waga CEO Guénaël Prince said the investment will allow his company to accelerate the rollout of its proprietary landfill gas purification technology in the U.S.
Midwestern utility acquires first RNG facility in Dubuque, Iowa
Black Hills Energy, an electric and natural gas utility that operates in several Midwestern states, acquired an Iowa landfill gas to RNG facility from Dubuque Gas Producers, the Telegraph Herald reported on Feb. 2. The seller was part of North Carolina-based developer Landfill Group.
Landfill Group reportedly built the facility for $10 million and brought it online in 2021. The facility draws gas from the Dubuque Metropolitan Area Solid Waste Agency landfill. The gas was already being sent to Black Hills Energy's pipeline under prior ownership.
Following the sale, Black Hills Energy will pay the Dubuque agency a $10,000 annual licensing fee and 3.5% of revenue from gas sales, the same arrangement as with prior ownership, according to the Telegraph Herald. This is Black Hills Energy's first RNG facility.
Ameresco begins operations at Republic Services landfill in Illinois
Ameresco has begun producing RNG at its 500,000 mmBtu facility at Republic Services’ Brickyard Landfill in Danville, Illinois. The project is Ameresco’s twelfth with Republic Services, and the companies have 10 more projects together under various stages of development.
Republic Services has a goal to beneficially reuse 50% more biogas from its facilities by 2030. It maintains active partnerships with other companies as well, including BP’s Archaea Energy and Evensol.
