(Credit: Pixabay)MBL Bioenergy has entered into definitive agreements to develop several clusters of dairy farm digester projects to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from multiple farms in South Dakota.
The clusters of projects are expected to produce 650 million cubic feet of RNG annually when complete and on-line by the end of calendar year 2024. The RNG will be delivered to the local natural gas pipelines serving the regional distribution system. In totality, the projects will represent more than $100 million investment in RNG by MBL Bioenergy, with funding by UGIES on a per project basis. UGIES, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, GHI Energy, will be the exclusive marketer for MBL Bioenergy.
RNG projects have gained popularity and prominence recently. In 2020, construction began on a dairy digester RNG facility, called the Sunoma Renewable Biofuel Project. The new facility will produce 1.6 million gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE) of vehicle fuel annually for the Class 8 trucking sector — enough fuel to move 10 million miles of freight.
This project, headed by Fortistar, is designed to help businesses and public agencies reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with a solution that also saves money. TruStar Energy, a Fortistar portfolio company and developer of natural gas fueling stations, will market and deliver the RNG fuel.
And in 2019, Dominion Energy and Vanguard Renewables announced a more than $200 million, nationwide strategic partnership to convert methane from US dairy farms into RNG that can heat homes, power businesses, and fuel vehicles. Multiple projects are under development in Georgia, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah with additional projects planned nationwide. Under the partnership, Dominion Energy will own the projects and market the RNG, and Vanguard Renewables’ subsidiary, Clean Energy Investment USA dba Vanguard Renewables A,g will design, develop, and operate the projects.
