RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.TPG Rise Climate Accelerates Renewable Energy Development with Investment in Monarch Bioenergy Joint Venture
TPG Rise Climate, the climate investing strategy of TPG’s global impact investing platform TPG Rise, today announced an investment in Monarch Bioenergy, a joint venture between Roeslein Alternative Energy (RAE) and a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods, Inc. Launched in 2018, Monarch leverages RAE’s state-of-the-art technology and Smithfield’s innovative sustainable farming practices to capture methane emissions and convert them into carbon-negative renewable natural gas (RNG) to power homes, vehicles and businesses. Chris Roach, President of RAE, will serve as Monarch’s Chief Executive Officer, a newly created role.
Accelerating the transition to renewable energy, greening the industrial sector, and scaling greenhouse gas abating technologies are core pillars in TPG Rise Climate’s multi-sector investing strategy. As an equal partner in the JV, TPG Rise Climate will work with RAE and Smithfield to advance agricultural innovation, enhance existing projects in Missouri, and develop new ones in select states across the U.S.
It’s Time America Stopped Throwing Out Food Waste
Between 1960 and 2020, the amount of food waste ending up in municipal landfills nearly tripled. Buried under dirt and other trash, discarded food generates methane as it decomposes, as do other organic materials such as yard waste and paper. Landfills are the third-largest source of methane emissions resulting from human activity.
Methane doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere as CO2, but its power to cause warming is much greater. “Methane has about 90 times as much warming potential as an equivalent amount of CO2 released in the atmosphere,” says Riley Duren, a research scientist at the University of Arizona.
EU to Use CAP Funds to Boost Biomethane Output
The EU plans to use funding under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to double the planned production of biomethane by 2030 in order to reduce the reliance on gas from Russia.
The European Commission aims to double the biomethane production objective of the ‘Fit for 55’ plan – the EU plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 – which would lead to the creation of 35 billion cubic metres of biomethane per year by that year (the current plan envisages 17 billion cubic metres per year).
Lawrence, New York, Farm Working with IDA, Liberty Utilities to Create Renewable Natural Gas
Liberty Utilities is seeking regulatory approval to build a 2.5-mile gas line to a renewable natural gas source at the Stauffer dairy farm in North Lawrence, New York.
Liberty Utilities spokesperson Emily A. Burnett said the company anticipates the gas pipeline project will be complete by the end of the year. An anaerobic digester will turn the methane generated from that process into renewable natural gas.
Aemetis Begins Commissioning of Biogas to RNG Upgrading Facility
Aemetis, Inc., a renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced the commencement of commissioning of the $12 million biogas-RNG upgrading facility connected to the PG&E gas pipeline interconnection unit located at the Keyes, California, ethanol plant site. The full system commissioning process, including PG&E’s interconnection unit, is expected to be completed in April 2022, enabling the production of utility-grade renewable natural gas for sale to customers via pipeline delivery.
“The commissioning of the Aemetis biogas upgrading facility and gas utility interconnection unit allows us to launch dairy RNG sales for use in trucks and buses to displace petroleum diesel,” said Andy Foster, President of Aemetis Biogas, a subsidiary of Aemetis.
U.S. Gain Wins Competitive Bid to Supply RNG to Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts
U.S. Gain, a leader in the development and distribution of alternative fuel and renewable thermal energy, recently entered into a supply agreement, through a competitive bid process, with the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts (LACSD). U.S. Gain will provide renewable natural gas (RNG) to fuel LACSD-owned fleet vehicles at two maintenance yards.
As part of their sustainability goals, LACSD received a Carl Moyer Program grant in partnership with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and South Coast Air Quality Management District to work towards guidelines for reduced air pollution. As part of the grant, LACSD solicited proposals to help support their emission reduction goal, improve fleet operations, and find alternative solutions for fleet fueling.
Hitachi Zosen Inova to Build Biogas Upgrading Facility for WTE
Hitachi Zosen Inova USA has been awarded a contract by WTE to build a biogas upgrading facility in Wyoming.
The project, starting up this summer, will upgrade biogas into a carbon-negative vehicle fuel. The membrane-based gas upgrading facility will have a nominal throughput capacity of over 960 Nm3 per hour. It will take biogas produced through the anaerobic digestion (AD) of manure and slurry from approximately 6,500 dairy cattle and upgrade it into biomethane or RNG. The AD systems for digesting the dairy waste are being constructed by DVO.
PSE Partners With Taco Time To Help Restaurants Go Carbon Neutral
Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and Taco Time Northwest are working together to make all 79 Taco Time restaurants carbon neutral. Taco Time has signed on to match 100% of its energy used with renewable power through PSE’s Green Power and Carbon Balance programs.
By matching its electric and natural gas usage with clean energy options, Taco Time restaurants will reduce their carbon footprint by more than 15.5 million pounds of CO2 every year – the equivalent to not driving nearly 18 million miles each year.
Hydron Pilots Disruptive Technology for Upgrading Biogas to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG)
Hydron Energy Inc., the cleaner fuel company that is commercializing a revolutionary biogas upgrading solution, has announced that it is receiving advisory services and funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) and Innovate BC, through the BC Fast Pilot program. The funding will support Hydron to design, build, and operate a pilot-scale, mobile renewable natural gas (RNG) upgrader system known as INTRUPTor™ I-Multi Waste-to-Energy Pilot Project.
“The BC Fast Pilot Program enables Hydron to apply its gas separation expertise to create a next-generation multi-swing process and demonstrate a breakthrough approach with 50% lower cost for upgrading biogas to RNG,” said Hydron Energy President and CEO Soheil Khiavi. “Commercially viable, small-scale gas separating solutions are crucial to unlocking access to dispersed waste feedstocks, preventing methane emissions, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.”
Anaergia Signs Project Development Agreement With Kent County, Michigan
Anaergia Inc. and partner, Continuus Materials, signed a contract Project Development Agreement (“PDA”) with the Board of the Kent County, Michigan, Department of Public Works.
Under the terms of the PDA, the parties agreed to terms for a potential project under which an approximately US$280 million state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility (MRF) converting solid waste to products, fertilizer, and renewable natural gas (RNG), would be built by Anaergia and Continuus Materials. The PDA indicates that the initial term of this agreement is to be for a period of twenty-five years from the start of operations.
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