Renewable natural gas hits 100 project milestone

The North American renewable natural gas (RNG) industry has reached the 100 facility benchmark this summer, the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) announced. With the addition of three recent operational facilities, the 101 RNG production sites across the continent equate to nearly 150% growth over the past five years from the 41 projects built between 1982 and 2014.

“Increased RNG development and deployment leads to greater adoption of the renewables we use to drive, and heat and power our homes and businesses,” said Johannes Escudero, RNG Coalition co-founder and CEO. “We join our members and all users of RNG in celebrating this milestone, which is a great achievement for sustainability and for decarbonizing our gas and power systems.”

The RNG Coalition was founded eight years ago when there were 31 operating RNG projects in North America. Having reached 50 RNG sites in 2015, the organization set the goal to double the number of RNG production facilities in North America within 10 years. The RNG industry has hit the target in half that time by eclipsing 100 sites this summer.

Three DTE Biomass Energy facilities in Wisconsin that convert cow waste from area dairies into renewable energy are among the new RNG production sites this year.

Another RNG Coalition member, Ultra Capital, worked to launch a new production site in Ashland, Kentucky in April.

According to the RNG Coalition’s database of renewable natural gas production sites, there are more than 50 additional facilities currently under construction or in development.