University of California Signs Major Biogas Purchase Agreement

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The University of California has just entered into its fourth major contract to purchase biogas as part of UC’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality.  “UC is leading the state’s transition to carbon neutrality with these long-term investments in renewable electricity and biogas,” said David Phillips, associate vice president of UC’s department of Energy and Sustainability.   The most recent agreement is for biogas from a landfill in San Bernardino County, which would otherwise flare the biogas.  Instead, the biogas will be conditioned and used on UC campuses to provide renewable power, heating, and cooling.  When completed, the new project will provide enough biogas to replace all of the fossil fuel gas used on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

Biogas is also an important part of the UC’s climate resilience strategy as it can provide energy, heating, and cooling for microgrids and essential services during grid shut-downs or power shortages.  In fact, UC Davis was able to provide power to SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) during a recent heat wave due to the university’s gas power plant.

For more information about UC’s biogas plans, click here.

WATCH: CalBio Opens Kern County’s First Dairy RNG Project

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CalBio hosted a virtual opening of its dairy digester cluster project in Kern County.  This is the first dairy waste to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) project in Kern County and will provide many benefits to the County and beyond, including production of carbon negative fuel that can replace diesel, improvements to air and water quality, job creation, and economic development.

Watch the video of this exciting event here.

To learn more, see CalBio’s press release:  CalBio Dairy Cluster Biogas to RNG Project

Gladstein Neandross Releases New CA RNG Report

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Gladstein Neandross & Associates has just released an important report detailing the RNG (renewable natural gas) projects expected to begin producing vehicle fuel from California’s organic waste in the next four years.  Some of the highlights of GNA’s report are:

  • California will have 160 RNG production facilities online by the end of 2024
  • Those facilities will produce a combined 119 million diesel gallon equivalents of low carbon and carbon negative vehicle fuels, enough to fuel 13,731 natural gas trucks
  • The average carbon intensity of the California produced RNG will be negative 101.74 gCO2e/MJ
  • Over the next 15 years, trucks running on this RNG will cut climate pollution by 51.4 million metric tons and will cut smog-forming pollution by 20.8 thousand metric tons per year.

Download the full report:  GNA Report – CA RNG Supply Assessment, July 2020

Greenlane Biogas Announces Dairy Biogas Upgrading Projects

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Greenlane Biogas has signed $15.2 million in new supply contracts using Greenlane’s Pressure Swing Adsorption (“PSA”) biogas upgrading system. The contract is for the supply of biogas upgrading and related equipment for a cluster of dairy digesters located in California. Greenlane’s biogas upgrading systems will generate renewable biomethane for injection into the local gas distribution network owned and operated by PG&E.

Click here for more information about this exciting development.

SoCalGas Announces New Technology to Convert CO2 to Renewable Gas

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SoCalGas and its partners, PG&E and Opus 12, have announced the development of a new one-step process to convert carbon dioxide to renewable gas.  This is a very important development as it will provide a way to convert excess solar and wind power to long-duration energy storage (in the form of renewable gas), which is critical to reach 100 percent renewable energy.  It will also reduce emissions from bioenergy by capturing CO2 emissions and converting the carbon to renewable gas.

See SoCalGas Announces Technology that Converts CO2 in Biogas to RNG

US EPA Certifies Biomass Gasification to RNG Pathway

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San Joaquin Renewables, a BAC member and subsidiary of Frontline Bioenergy, has just received approval from US EPA for a biomass gasification to RNG fuel pathway under the Renewable Fuel Standard.  This will be the first biomass gasification to RNG project that qualifies for D3 RINs (the most valuable pathway) under the federal renewable fuel program.

San Joaquin Renewables is building the project in McFarland, Kern County.  The facility will convert agricultural waste, including almond and pistachio shells and orchard prunings, to renewable gas that will then be used as vehicle fuel to replace diesel.  According to EPA’s analysis, the fuel produced by San Joaquin Renewables will cut carbon emissions 96% compared to diesel.  It will also eliminate the climate and air pollution that would be emitted from open burning or pile and decay of the agricultural waste.

To learn more about the project, see this article.

New Report Highlights Importance of Bioenergy to Meet Climate Goals

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Lawrence Livermore National Labs has just released a groundbreaking report on how California can reach carbon neutrality by mid-century.  The report finds that reaching carbon neutrality is feasible with existing technologies, but only if California invests much more in carbon negative actions that can offset the carbon emissions that can’t be eliminated.  The report highlights several areas where carbon negative emissions are achievable and quite cost-effective:  Bioenergy, biochar and other forms of carbon sequestration, restoring natural and working lands, and carbon capture and storage.  Of these, the report concludes that bioenergy will provide the greatest share of carbon negative emissions by mid-century, and at a small fraction of the cost of carbon reductions under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard or Cap & Trade programs.

Download the Executive Summary and Full Report to learn more.