RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Manure, trash and wastewater: U.S. utilities get dirty in climate fight
Joey Airoso has always been proud of his cows, whose milk goes into the butter sold by national dairy company Land O'Lakes. Now he has something new to brag about: the vast amounts of gas produced by his 2,900-head herd is powering truck fleets, homes and factories across the state of California.
"It's pretty incredible if you think about it," Airoso said during a recent tour of his 1,500-acre farm, as a stream of watered-down manure flowed from cow sheds into a nearby pit. There the slurry releases methane that is captured and eventually piped into fueling stations and buildings.
By Nichola Groom, Reuters
Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods Invest $500 Million to Become Largest Renewable Natural Gas Supplier in US
Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced today the companies are doubling their investment in renewable natural gas (RNG) projects across the US to $500 million through 2028. This additional investment will expand their Align Renewable Natural Gas joint venture beyond its initial projects in North Carolina, Virginia, and Utah, to pursue new projects across the country, including in Arizona and California.
Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods formed Align RNG in November 2018, committing $250 million over 10 years to capture methane from Smithfield’s company-owned and contract hog farms and convert it into clean RNG. With the additional $250 million investment announced today, the companies will produce enough RNG to power more than 70,000 homes and businesses by 2029. Align RNG’s first project in Milford, Utah, will be operational this year and will produce enough RNG to power more than 3,000 local homes and businesses at full capacity.
By Environment & Energy Leader
Symposium Explores How RNG Could Fuel California
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 104 times greater than carbon dioxide. But what if the methane could be turned into energy?
The topic of using waste for power is a hot one, both literally and figuratively, for the San Joaquin Valley. Biogas — the gases naturally produced from the decomposition of organic waste — can be a useful byproduct. If harnessed correctly, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced and dairies and wastewater managers could capture added value by creating, using and selling natural gas.
UC Merced Professor Sarah Kurtz is leading a workshop that seeks to answer questions about how to convert biogas production sites that currently flare the biogas into ones that can take advantage of the power in the gas.
By University of California Merced
4 Puget Sound counties may do what the state couldn’t: Pass a clean-fuel standard
Washington state leaders tried — and failed — last year to enact a clean-fuels standard that would curb tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks.
Now, following inaction at the state level, four counties in the Puget Sound region might move ahead with their own plan to require cleaner transportation fuels.
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, which was created under the state’s Clean Air Act and encompasses King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties, is accepting comments on a draft version of a low-carbon fuel standard. The agency’s board could vote on the proposal as soon as February.
By Melissa Santos, Crosscut
Republic Services Expands Natural Gas-Powered Fleet
More Than 3,100 Vehicles Will Run on Alternative Fuels by the End of 2019
PHOENIX, Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Republic Services, Inc. (RSG) announced today the continued expansion of its natural gas-powered fleet as it makes progress toward its greenhouse gas reduction goals. The Company will operate an additional 156 compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered solid waste collection trucks serving customers throughout the country by the end of 2019, bringing the total number of vehicles running on alternative fuels to more than 3,100.
Energy Vision Honors Champions of Renewable Natural Gas
NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- At its annual awards reception in Manhattan, the NGO Energy Vision presented government and business leaders with awards for helping expand use of ultra-low carbon renewable natural gas (RNG) in New York and nationally. The awardees include:
New York State Senator Todd Kaminsky, Chair of the NYS Senate Environmental Conservation Committee and lead sponsor of the nation's most ambitious climate bill, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
Juan Corcino, Director of Fleet Operations, Manhattan Beer Distributors, America's largest single-market beer distributor. It operates the largest private fleet of natural gas vehicles in the New York metro region, and is working on fueling them with RNG.
Rudi Roeslein, Founder and CEO of Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE), which partnered with Smithfield Foods, the world's largest hog farmer and pork processor, to make RNG from hog manure in Missouri and North Carolina. By 2021 all Smithfield Farms facilities will produce RNG from their manure. Roeslein is working to leverage RNG production from farm waste to help restore 30 million acres of prairie land.
Biomethane to Supply Vermont College with 50% of its Heating and Cooling Energy Needs
Vanguard Renewables has selected Kinsley Energy Systems to supply high-efficiency combined heat and power (CHP) for a new renewable energy project. Kinsley will provide an 800 kW TEDOM CHP system to power a new renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility located on Goodrich Farm in Salisbury, Vermont.
By Emily Holbrook, Environmental Leader.
Vanguard breaks ground on food waste to energy project
Vanguard Renewables, Wellesley, Massachusetts, began construction of a new project, which represents a unique partnership between a Vermont college, a local dairy farm and a renewable energy company.
Vanguard owns and operates an anaerobic digestion facility on Goodrich Farm, Salisbury, Vermont, which processes organics and farm waste into renewable natural gas (RNG). The company is taking its Farm Powered project a step further with a partnership that will supply power to a local college.
By Kelly Maile, Waste Today Magazine
Leyline Renewable Capital Announces $150 Million Investment from Newlight Partners to Provide Development Capital for Renewable Energy Projects
Injection of funding for project pre-construction signals developers are accelerating the clean energy transition in the United States.
DURHAM, N.C., Oct. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Leyline Renewable Capital, a provider of development financing across several renewable energy sectors, announced a $150 million investment by Newlight Partners LP. This investment will enable Leyline to identify and provide development-stage debt and equity to support renewable energy projects throughout the United States. To date, the Leyline team has developed, financed and/or constructed more than $2 billion in 170+ projects totaling 1GW+ electricity - which equates to 140,000 metric tons in greenhouse gas reductions.
Greenlane Renewables Announces New Chief Financial Officer
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada – October 15, 2019 Greenlane Renewables Inc. (“Greenlane” or the “Company”) (TSXV: GRN) today announced announced the appointment of Ms. Lynda Freeman as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) effective immediately.
Ms. Freeman is a distinguished financial professional with over 22 years of experience. She has held progressively senior financial leadership roles, including five years as CFO of TSX-listed Alterra Power Corp., a global renewable energy company with hydro, wind, geothermal and solar generation capacity. Lynda began her professional career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she spent ten years, based in three different countries (the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada) in the audit practice working with both public and rate regulated companies. Ms. Freeman earned her BA Honours degree in Accountancy and Law at Oxford Brookes University and is a UK qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA).
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