RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.RGGI carbon auction prices fall 40% on Clean Power Plan uncertainty
By Robert Walton, Utility Dive.
- The price of carbon in the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) has taken a tumble since the courts injected uncertainty into the Clean Power Plan's outlook, with prices in the June auction falling to $4.53 per metric ton of CO2 compared with $7.50 in December, a 40% decline.
- Following the Court's decision to delay the implementation of the Clean Power Plan, a subsequent RGGI auction in April saw carbon prices fell to $5.25 per ton, but experts disagree about the direction of where the prices will go from there, Climate Central reports.
- According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), RGGI has not set targets beyond the current cap of 78.2 million metric tons of CO2 emission by 2020, "adding to uncertainty about the future value of emissions allowances."
Gaz Métro conducts conversion of biomass into renewable natural gas project
By USGasVehicles.com.
Gaz Métro announced that, over the past several months, it has been conducting a demonstration project aimed at converting forestry biomass into second-generation renewable natural gas. The trials, carried out in collaboration with the British Columbia firm G4 Insights at the Natural Gas Technologies Centre in Boucherville, enabled them to develop a conversion process that is unique in the world and marks an important milestone in the development of new renewable energy technology in Québec, Canada.
DuPont Industrial Biosciences Launches New Enzyme Product for Biogas Industry
Via Benzinga.
State-of-the-Art Biotechnology Offering Will Increase Methane Yields and Improve Profitability
Wilmington, Del. (PRWEB) July 06, 2016
Today, DuPont Industrial Biosciences announced the launch of OPTIMASH® AD-100, an innovative new enzyme product that will help biomethane producers improve biogas yields and process robustness, which is expected to ultimately increase their revenue and profitability.
OPTIMASH® AD-100 represents DuPont Industrial Biosciences' entry into the growing biogas sector, with an enzyme that has been shown to produce up to a 13 percent increase in biogas yields in anaerobic digesters. The enzyme breaks down organic matter – like food, paper, animal and farm wastes – resulting in sugars more suitable for biogas-producing microorganisms. The addition of this enzyme into the biomethane process improves the profitability for customers and operators by reducing feedstock requirements and increasing biogas production.
57 Producers and Related Business Associations Say LCFS Policy is Working and Generating Jobs
By Calstart, Inc.
Nearly 60 producers and providers of clean fuels – ranging from electricity to renewable diesel – signed a joint letter urging state policymakers to sustain the state’s low carbon fuel policy. The industry leaders say the tool is a “critical” part of the plan to reduce California’s greenhouse gases and that it is already driving in-state investment.
The companies backing the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and signing the letter range from the state’s largest natural gas utility to a company providing electric vehicle chargers to companies producing biodiesel in California. All of these businesses and fuel providers indicate that the LCFS is working as planned and encouraging the production of cost-effective, cleaner, lower carbon fuels.
The LCFS calls for reducing the carbon intensity of transportation fuels 10 percent by 2020. The measure was developed and enacted as a result of an Executive Order issued by former California Governor Schwarzenegger. A legal challenge resulted in a significant delay in the implementation of the policy but since the Air Resources Board re-adopted the policy in 2015, it has been driving investment and innovation.
View the letter HERE.
Combination of RNG/Renewable Natural Gas and NZ Engine To Meet Goals Faster and Cheaper than Batteries or Hydrogen
By Rich Piellisch, Fleets & Fuels.
The super low-NOX engine from Cummins Westport, powered by RNG/renewable natural gas, will allow California to meet its goal of zero-emission transmit buses more quickly and for less money that it will with battery electric or hydrogen fuel cell buses, says a new analysis.
Fleet costs will rise by just 1% with LNOx+RNG, as compared to 8% to 14% for all-electric buses or 9% to 13%, according to a presentation last week by by Dana Lowell of M.J. Bradley & Associates and Julia Lester of Ramboll/Environ for LA Metro.
LA Metro switched entirely to compressed natural gas operation in 2011 – the currently operates 2,194 CNG buses, according to Bradley-Ramboll – so would face no infrastructure/depot-upgrade costs to make the switch to LNOx+RNG.
Waste Gas Company Shifts to a Licensing Fee Business Model
By Waste360.
Ener-Core Inc. has signed a commercial and manufacturing license agreement (CMLA) with the Dresser-Rand business, granting it the exclusive right to manufacture Ener-Core’s power oxidizer gas turbines within the 1 to 4 MW power capacity range and to sell the power oxidizers directly to industrial customers.
Ener-Core designs and manufactures a technology that converts waste gases from a wide range of industries directly into clean power. Its technology, for example, can be used to convert low-btu landfill gas into onsite power. The company received a conditional purchase order in May worth $3.29 million to build, deliver and install four of its EC-250 EcoStations at the Toyon Canyon Landfill site within Los Angeles’ Griffith Park.
Congress is back, but no energy bills are on this week's agenda
By Eric Wolff, WIth help from Esther Whieldon and Alex Guillén, Politico.
NINE DAYS OF LEGISLATIVE FURY: The House returns today, and the Senate tomorrow, and both chambers are facing an enormous backlog before heading home for seven weeks of summertime recess. Legislators are hoping to pass their pet bills by July 15, since they know they'll likely be swallowed up in omnibus dramatics or Election Year hoo hah when Congress returns in September. For the record, exactly none of the following energy bills appear on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's weekly agenda, which would leave only next week for them to move.
Senator Heinrich to Introduce Energy Storage Tax Credit Bill Next Week
By Julian Spector, Greenwich Media.
There will soon be an energy storage tax credit proposal in both the House and Senate.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) will introduce an investment tax credit for energy storage the week of July 11, based on the existing credit for solar energy. The legislation would give businesses and homes a 30 percent credit, but the credit would taper off starting in 2020. Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced similar legislation on the House side in May.
This isn't Heinrich's first foray into energy storage; last year he introduced a national mandate for storage, based on the California model. That approach didn't work out, but he told Greentech Media that he hopes the tax credit will be more attractive to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Comment period on RFS rule to close July 11
By Erin Voegele, Ethanol Producer Magazine.
Those who wish to weigh in on the U.S. EPA’s proposed rule to set 2017 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), along with 2018 RVOs for biomass-based diesel, have less than a week to do so. The comment period on the proposed rule ends July 11. The EPA released the rulemaking on May 18.
Court Decision on Climate Plan Jolts Carbon Prices
By bmagill, Standard Examiner.
A temporary halt to the federal government’s plan to cut electric power plant emissions has caused carbon prices in the Northeast’s only cap-and-trade program to plummet, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Carbon prices in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, have fallen 40 percent since the Supreme Court’s decision in February to stay the Clean Power Plan — from their peak at $7.50 per metric ton of carbon dioxide in December to $4.53 per ton in June.
RGGI is America’s first mandatory market-based cap-and-trade program, which places a collective limit on carbon emissions among its nine member states. Power plant emissions under that limit are called “allowances,” and the program stamps a price on them so they can be traded among polluters. Carbon prices are set at quarterly auctions, and proceeds are invested in state renewable energy, energy efficiency and other sustainability programs.
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