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This is the latest installment in Waste Dive’s ongoing Biogas Monthly series. For prior editions, click here.
BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said he was still optimistic that subsidiaryArchaea could build 15 new renewable natural gas plants in 2024, despite the company only being about halfway to that goal by the end of the third quarter.
During his company's earnings call on Oct. 29, Auchincloss said seven plants are “online and operating.” The company has previously reported, opening one Archaea facility in the first quarter and three in the second quarter.
"We're a standout inside the sector at [15 projects] that I think creates the case for an awful lot more business moving forward. So I feel quite good, actually, about Archaea," Auchincloss said.
Other waste companies also recently provided updates on their RNG progress. WM expects to have seven RNG projects online by the end of the year out of its 20-project portfolio. Republic Services has completed four projects so far this year, including two in the third quarter, and expects to open four more this year in the fourth quarter. GFL Environmental commissioned two RNG projects in Q3, with a third expected in Q4; Casella Waste Systems opened an RNG facility at the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Maine in Q3, with other RNG facilities not expected until next year.
Meanwhile, Waste Connections reports four RNG projects are expected to come online this year, including one from frequent project partner Vision RNG. Those companies’ latest project is among the most notable RNG announcements in November.
Credit pricing as of Nov. 27, 2024
D3 RIN prices: $2.450
Down from $2.339 in 2023
D5 RIN prices: $0.585
Up from $0.580 in 2023
$42
Price per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program
$76.80
Price per metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard
Vision RNG reached a 20-year agreement with a subsidiary of Waste Connections to build a landfill-gas-to-RNG facility at the waste company's Jackson, Nebraska, landfill. The project is expected to process 1,200 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas and produce 310,000 mmBtus of RNG annually. The project partners expect the facility to open in 2027.
Vision RNG, founded in 2021, recently brought its first such facility for Waste Connections online, the companies announced in October. The companies have also partnered to build facilities in Missouri and Oklahoma.
DTE Vantage expands RNG portfolio
DTE Vantage, the development arm of Michigan utility DTE, completed a pair of projects in November, expanding its RNG capabilities.
The developer announced the commissioning of its Scipio Center, New York, anaerobic digester, which produces RNG from dairy cow manure. The project injects RNG into the local grid run by Corning Natural Gas and was developed via a partnership with Mercuria Energy America, which markets the RNG.
This is DTE Vantage's 10th facility producing RNG from a dairy farm, according to Kevin Dobson, vice president of DTE Vantage’s biomass group. Combined with the company’ five landfill-gas-to-RNG facilities, the group produces about 4.8 million mmBtus of RNG annually.
“We’re certainly looking to expand and grow our portfolio,” Dobson said.
DTE Vantage also completed a project at the Dayton Water Reclamation Facility in Ohio. The project will pipe biogas from the facility to DTE's existing RNG refining plant at a WM landfill two miles away.
The project provides a fresh source of biogas to a facility that's been in operation since 2003. With the landfill closed and biogas volumes declining, Dobson said the wastewater treatment plant project increases the biogas throughput of the facility by about 30%. This is the company's first facility at a wastewater treatment plant.
The developer plans to continue building RNG projects, though Dobson acknowledged there could be market changes after the recent election. He said other technologies, including carbon capture at landfills, are on the table for the developer moving forward.
Novilla RNG ramps up dairy digester progress
Michigan-based Novilla Investment Holdings completed construction on its fourth anaerobic digester producing RNG from dairy cow manure. The facility, located at the Lynn Brothers Dairy in Unity, Wisconsin, is expected to produce the equivalent of nearly 1 million gallons of gasoline annually, per a release.
The company is expanding its RNG project portfolio. It has begun construction on four new dairy digesters, two of which are in South Dakota and one each in Wisconsin and Vermont, the company announced.
“Building on the success of our first four projects, we are continuing to work with great dairies and build out new projects at a reasonable pace with four new projects coming online in the next 15 months” Mark Hill, co-CEO of Novilla RNG, said in a statement.
Following the completion of the projects, Novilla expects to generate 1.2 million mmBtus of of RNG annually.
Lincoln, Nebraska, finds partner for landfill RNG
Sparq Renewables struck a partnership with the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, to build a landfill-gas-to-RNG facility at the publicly owned Bluff Road Landfill. The project will handle about 1,500 standard cubic feet of gas per minute when it's completed, currently projected for winter 2026.
The facility is expected to cost about $50 million and the partners expect it will generate $96 million in RNG sales over the course of its 25-year agreement, according to city officials. Sparq is expected to finance, build and operate the facility.
The project fulfills a pillar of the city's climate action plan, Mayor Gaylor Baird announced in a statement. It's expected to produce four megawatts of electricity, enough to power 4,300 houses per year.
Oklahoma-based Sparq has previously partnered with NextEra on a project in its home state at another landfill. The company was founded in 2013 with a focus on the natural gas fueling value chain.
Lightning Renewables opens Missouri plant
Officials cut the ribbon on an RNG project at the Lemons East Landfill in Dexter, Missouri. The plant was developed by Lightning Renewables, a joint venture between BP's Archaea Energy and Republic Services. The plant is expected to process 2,000 standard cubic feet of landfill gas per minute, according to WSIL TV.
