RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Europe Rediscovers Biogas in Search for Energy Independence
The need to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian gas has cast the spotlight on the gas package of legislation presented by the European Commission on 15 December, just two months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Before the war, “the gas package would not have been a priority for the French EU Council presidency,” said Phuc-Vinh Nguyen, a researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute’s Energy Centre. EU countries are now looking at renewable gas and the Commission’s gas regulation and directive with renewed interest, he said.
Carbon Market Offers Opportunities
Dairy farmers who are participating in projects with anaerobic-digester facilities have opportunities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions as well as benefit from carbon credits. And farmers who are considering participating in the carbon-credit market can benefit by understanding more about how their greenhouse-gas-emission footprints are measured.
They’re usually measured by three main accounting frameworks, said Patrick Wood, founder of Ag Methane Advisors of Montpelier, Vermont. Carbon markets exist for dairy farms in all three systems: Lifecycle accounting, Inventory accounting and Project accounting.
UGI Invests in Renewable Energy Producer Ag-Grid Energy
UGI Corporation announced that its subsidiary, UGI Energy Services, LLC, acquired a 33% equity interest in Ag-Grid Energy LLC, a renewable energy producer with projects in the United States. Ag-Grid currently develops and operates small scale renewable power projects that support local energy demands while lowering emissions.
Ag-Grid is currently engaged in the production of renewable power with four operational projects, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and two under construction with a target completion date in December 2022. These six projects include the conversion of dairy waste and roughly 16 million gallons of food waste annually from nearby food manufacturers to renewable power.
True North Renewable Energy, The Weitz Company and DRANCO Announce Partnership
True North Renewable Energy, LLC (TNRE) announced a partnership with The Weitz Company and DRANCO, Inc. as the Engineering-Procurement-Construction Technology supplier for their organic waste to renewable energy development projects in the Western United States. Weitz-DRANCO has agreed to assist TNRE on an established basis to provide the necessary technology expertise required for TNRE’s state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion/advanced composting facilities.
TNRE develops, owns, and operates state-of-the-art organics-to-renewable energy facilities, including large scale, regional high-solids anaerobic digestion (AD) infrastructure. These facilities reuse and repurpose organic resources diverted from landfills to create beneficial, sustainable products, including biomethane and soil-amending compost.
National Grid Unveils Plan to Run Carbon-Free Gas Through Its Pipes By 2050
National Grid unveiled a plan to decarbonize its US natural gas pipeline system by 2050, a move that dovetails with broader state efforts to ensure Massachusetts is net-zero with regard to carbon emissions by that date.
The goal is to augment electric heating with two forms of “clean” gas in the utility’s pipes: renewable natural gas — drawn from decomposing materials at farms, landfills, and sewage treatment plants — and “green” hydrogen, created from water by using electricity produced by offshore wind farms. The British utility will also look at ways to incorporate geothermal heating systems in certain neighborhoods or for specific properties.
Nacero Set to Infuse Billions into Economy
Plans for Nacero’s natural gas to gasoline plant near Penwell, Texas, are proceeding with an air quality permit in hand, financing and a groundbreaking in the works.
Nacero Director of Project Integration Wesley Burnett gave an update on the project, the number of jobs it will create and the billions it will infuse into the regional economy.
Fueling the Hydrogen Revolution with RNG
The hydrogen economy is here and now. The rapidly growing opportunity is significant, and the RNG industry has a key role to play, according to BayoTech Chief Commercial Officer Stewart Stewart, who briefed the RNG industry on opportunities in hydrogen production from RNG, its advantages and what the sector currently looks like during a March webinar sponsored by the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas.
The hydrogen industry has traditionally served three very large, centralized industries, which Stewart categorizes as oil and gas refineries, methanol production and fertilizer production from ammonia. “In those value chains, hydrogen is traditionally produced in very large plants and shipped over long distances to their users,” he says.
Clean Energy Expands Sustainable Fueling with Contracts for Renewable Natural Gas, More Dairy Development Projects
Clean Energy Fuels announced it continues to meet the growing demand for renewable natural gas (RNG), a sustainable transportation fuel made from organic waste, with new fueling contracts, infrastructure expansions, and RNG production projects.
“More fleets are finding RNG to be the most easy and cost-effective way to achieve significant carbon reductions,” said Chad Lindholm, Clean Energy’s senior vice president for sales. “As we continue to see growing demand for RNG, we’re working on the production side so that more customers can turn their sustainability goals into reality.”
Wood Chips Would be a Fuel Feedstock at a New $2B Biofuels Facility that Could Come to Beaumont, Texas
A chemical plant outside Beaumont, Texas, could be getting a $2 billion expansion as its owner, Amsterdam-based OCI, plans to expand into renewable methanol-to-gasoline and bio-methanol production, or biofuels.
A new facility would put woodchips through a gasifier system, applying oxygen and superheated steam to yield renewable natural gas, the company said in an application with Beaumont Independent School District to reduce its tax burden. The renewable natural gas would then be used as a feedstock for OCI’s bio-methanol production.
Enbridge Gas and the Ontario Waste Management Association Announce RNG Project to Decarbonize Waste Collection Trucks
Enbridge Gas, in agreement with the Ontario Waste Management Association, announced a pilot project to use low-carbon renewable natural gas (RNG) in waste collection vehicles across Ontario, Canada. RNG is a carbon-neutral fuel source that presents a tremendous opportunity to help Ontario reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
Currently, more than 40 percent of Ontario's waste sector expenditures are related to transportation costs, which are expected to increase. While the sector has made significant contributions to sustainability by supporting waste diversion efforts there is room to build on that success and continue investing in a green future.
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