RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.RNG Coalition member Xergi wins prestigious industry award with Danish biogas plant
By Bioenergy Insight.
Danish biogas plant builder Xergi won the category for “Best international agricultural plant” at the AD & Biogas Industry Awards last week.
The award, given to the company for its Nature Energy Holsted biogas plant in Denmark, which was commissioned in 2015, was handed out at the AD & Biogas show in Birmingham, UK, on 6-7 July.
Jørgen Ballermann, CEO at Xergi, said he sees the award as “an acknowledgment” of the company’s technical solutions
Gov. Raimondo Praises Renewable and Natural-Gas Power
By Tim Faulkner, Eco Rhode Island.
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Ahead of a July 18 public meeting with Burrillville residents, Gov. Gina Raimondo recently reiterated her support for the proposed Clear River Energy Center.
In a seemingly contradictory defense of the nearly 1,000-megwatt project, she said Rhode Island's overwhelming reliance on natural-gas-generated electricity justifies building another natural-gas power plant.
“As a bridge to renewables, I do support natural gas. It’s where we get 98 percent of energy in Rhode Island,” Raimondo said July 7, after signing two bills that expand renewable-energy development incentives in Rhode Island.
Kate Brown to lawmakers: a repeal of Oregon's low-carbon fuels law is off limits in transportation talks
By Hillary Borrud, The Oregonian / OregonLive.
As a committee of Oregon lawmakers tours the state this summer in an effort to build support for a possible 2017 transportation-funding package, there's one topic Gov. Kate Brown asked them to avoid: a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law.
Brown made her expectation clear at a May 4 invitation-only meeting of lawmakers, lobbyists and business executives in Portland, where she said a repeal of the state's low-carbon fuel law was off the table, according to drafts of her prepared remarks released by the governor's office and people who attended the meeting.
Crane Mountain tests technology to recover more methane gas
By Sarah Trainor, CBC News.
New technology to extract landfill gas will soon be tested at Saint John's Crane Mountain landfill.
The landfill already generates electricity using methane gas collected from wells drilled into decaying trash.
But the current setup has its challenges, said Marc MacLeod, general manager of the Fundy Region Solid Waste Commission.
"Those wells flood with water, or leachate, that's what it's called once it touches the garbage," MacLeod said Thursday on Information Morning Saint John. "So if you have 20 feet of exposed well where you can suck out the gas, the majority of wells are filled with 10 feet of water.
"So instead of having that 20 feet of exposure in the garbage you only have 10. This technology is meant to pull that extra garbage out."
Ener-Core moves away from manufacturing its own landfill gas-to-energy equipment
By Cole Rosengren, Waste Dive.
Dive Brief:
- Ener-Core, Inc. has signed a license agreement giving Dresser-Rand—owned by Siemens—the exclusive rights to manufacture its power oxidizer gas turbines.
- Dresser-Rand and Siemens will expand the product's reach by selling it to new and existing industrial customers. Ener-Core will receive a license fee payment for each unit sold.
- The technology is used to convert low-quality waste gases, such as landfill emissions, into heat and power. This agreement covers turbines within the 1 to 4 MW power capacity range.
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.
Don’t miss an update—join our weekly newsletter below.