RNG NEWS
Stay up to date with the latest stories, insights, and announcements.Aemetis Reports Progress With Biofuel, Biogas Projects
Aemetis Inc. expects to secure the authority to construct air permit for its proposed sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel project in early 2024, according to comments made by Chairman and CEO Eric McAfee during a third quarter earnings call held Nov. 9. McAfee also discussed the company’s biogas, ethanol, biodiesel and carbon capture projects during the event.
The Aemetis Biogas subsidiary during the summer of 2023 closed its second $25 million USDA loan guarantee to build biogas digesters at eight additional dairies, McAfee said. That closing brought the subsidiary’s total to $50 million in loan guarantees secured under the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program to build 15 dairy digester projects that are designed to produce a combined 400,000 MMBtus of renewable natural gas (RNG) annually. A third $25 million USDA guaranteed loan is expected to close by the end of this year, subject to potential delays caused by a government shutdown, McAfee added. Work on a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth guaranteed loan are in various steps of the process.
Strong Renewable Fuel Standard Targets Drive Interest in RNG Projects
Rising blending mandates in the Renewable Fuel Standard are expected to boost demand for renewable natural gas, and several companies have recently announced expansions to their RNG businesses.
RNG projects typically qualify for cellulosic biofuel, or D3, RIN credits under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets blending requirements for transport fuels. In June, the EPA increased the cellulosic biofuels mandate for 2023 to 840 million gallons, up from 630 million gallons in 2022. The mandate rises to 1.09 billion gallons for 2024 and 1.38 billion gallons for 2025.
John Hanselman: The Future — It’s Electric! But Are We Ready?
Reducing GHGs can’t be maximized by simply building solar arrays or windmills. While we upgrade our existing power grid, we must embrace and scale other clean-energy technologies — including renewable natural gas.
President Biden has set an ambitious goal of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035. It is the challenge of our generation and one of the most exciting business opportunities ever presented to the United States. But is that achievable?
AstraZeneca To Leverage Global Industrial-Scale Manufacturing, Digital Capabilities To Boost U.S. Renewable Natural Gas Productivity
AstraZeneca is leveraging its global industrial-scale manufacturing and digital capabilities to boost US renewable natural gas (RNG) productivity through a planned expanded collaboration with Vanguard Renewables. With an ambition of achieving a multiple fold increase in productivity, the collaboration aims to accelerate parity with fossil fuel-generated natural gas.
Drawing on AstraZeneca’s global manufacturing, supply chain, digital and scientific expertise, the companies plan to work together to increase RNG yield and generate a step change improvement in the production of RNG. Technological improvements and enhanced production can increase access and cost-effectiveness of RNG, a current barrier to widespread renewable energy deployment. The collaboration also aims to add RNG capacity to the US power grid and build capabilities in sustainable innovation for broader public benefit.
Evensol, Republic and Duke Energy Partner on RNG Projects
Evensol, a renewable energy project developer focusing on biogas and methane mitigation, has developed two renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities in North Carolina that are now operational.
The Foothills Renewables Project in Caldwell County and the Upper Piedmont Renewables Project in Person County convert landfill gas from Phoenix-based Republic Services’ landfills into RNG.
Southwest Inks 20-Year Jet Fuel Deal in Quest To Go Green
Southwest Airlines said it has forged a two-decade agreement to buy as much as 680 million gallons of renewable jet fuel, part of the US carrier’s goal of slashing climate-polluting emissions.
The sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, will be sold by Arizona-based USA BioEnergy LLC starting as early as 2028, Southwest said in a statement. USA BioEnergy is working to build a $2 billion-plus plant in Texas to make green jet fuel from wood waste, the company’s chief executive, Nick Andrews, said in an interview.
Enbridge Expands RNG Footprint With $1.2 Billion Morrow Renewables Deal
Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge has signed a deal to purchase seven existing renewable natural gas facilities in Texas and Arkansas for $1.2 billion.
The acquisition of the facilities from Texas-based Morrow Renewables establishes Enbridge as one of the largest transporters of renewable natural gas by volume in North America, the Calgary-based company said November 3.
WIN Waste, Vision RNG Partner on LFG-RNG Projects
Vision RNG, a Pittsburgh-based developer of projects designed to convert landfill gas (LFG) to renewable natural gas (RNG), and Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based WIN Waste Innovations, an integrated waste services provider, are partnering to build two LFG-to-RNG projects at WIN Waste’s Seneca County landfill in Seneca County, Ohio, and its Tunnel Hill Reclamation landfill in Perry County, Ohio.
Vision RNG and WIN Waste anticipate the projects will produce more than 2.7 million MMBtu of RNG annually, with plans to more than double that amount within 11 years. Once commissioned, the projects are expected to result in the avoidance of more than 120,000 tons of fossil-based carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions yearly.
COP28 Chief, Groups, Urge Tripling Renewable Capacity by 2030
The presidency of next month's COP28 climate summit and two renewable energy organizations this week urged governments to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 as part of efforts to stop global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Countries hope to strike a deal on the increase in capacity at the latest round of global climate negotiations set to get under way in Dubai in late November, which will focus on the gaps in the implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement that established the 1.5°C ceiling.
Clean Energy’s First RNG Facility Begins To Sell Environmental Credits
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE ) and TotalEnergies SE (NYSE: TTE) announced that renewable natural gas (RNG) from Del Rio Dairy in Friona, TX, began flowing in June to the transportation market and recently began generating D3 renewable identification numbers (RINs) credits under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Renewable Fuel Standard, as well as credits through Oregon’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) program. The RNG produced at Del Rio Dairy and injected into the country’s natural gas pipeline system represents a major milestone in Clean Energy’s strategy to become the leader in both producing and selling a fuel that is so clean, the California Air Resources Board gives it an average carbon-intensity rating of -331.
“The demand for RNG is only increasing,” said Clay Corbus, senior vice president of renewables at Clean Energy. “There is no easier or immediate way for fleets to achieve their goals to reduce carbon emissions than transitioning their trucks, buses, or other large vehicles to RNG. Turning the challenge of managing manure at large dairies like Del Rio Dairy into something so positive like an ultra-low carbon fuel is a huge win for all parties.”
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