North American RNG Surpasses 400 Operational Facilities

October 15, 2024

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(Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas/Biomass Magazine) The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) announces a major milestone in the growth of the renewable natural gas industry, with 433 facilities now operational across North America. This achievement represents a significant leap from just a year ago, when the North American RNG industry celebrated the establishment of 300 facilities, marking a remarkable 44% growth within just one year.

“This is a significant milestone in the advancement of our mission and Sustainable Methane Abatement & Recycling Timeline (SMART),” RNG Coalition Founder and CEO Johannes Escudero said today. “We are proud of what our organization and industry have accomplished together, but we are focused on the next benchmark, and on even broader energy sector adoption of RNG as a critical component in our society's transition to a cleaner, more sustainable future.

While technological advancements and increasing demand for low-carbon energy solutions have factored into this recent surge, expanding policy support remains front-and-center for our industry as we chase our goals of 500 facilities by 2025, 1,000 by 2030 and 5,000 by 2040. One notable example of encouraging policy growth is New Mexico's recently launched Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) program, which aims to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. The CFS program follows similar programs implemented successfully in California, Oregon, and Washington, providing a framework for RNG projects to thrive by creating market incentives for low-carbon fuels that displace dirty diesel and other fossil fuels.

Dairy farm-to-RNG projects represent another key driver of recent facility growth. Agricultural waste now represents 24% of all feedstocks deployed toward RNG production, marking a new all-time high and an increase from 17% of all feedstocks just a year ago. California's strides toward reducing methane emissions, including through its pioneering Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, have helped incentivize methane capture at farms across the state, with over 100 state agricultural sites now attached to operational RNG infrastructure.

As the RNG Coalition celebrates this milestone, the organization remains committed to supporting the continued growth and development of the industry. In addition to currently operational facilities, there are 436 facilities in various stages of planning or construction, creating a robust pipeline of forthcoming projects.

With ongoing collaboration between the public and private sectors, and between legislative and regulatory bodies, the Coalition envisions an even more significant role for RNG and other renewable gases as we work toward cleaner air and energy for current and future generations. READ MORE

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Excerpt from Biomass Magazine: There are 300 operational biogas and RNG projects across Canada, which combined produce 22 petajoules of energy, according to Sarah Stadnyk, director of policy and communications with the Canadian Biogas Association. According to data from the Canadian Biogas and RNG Summary Market Report, 28% of the biogas produced in Canada is turned into RNG. A consistent trend throughout the Canadian biogas and RNG industry has been a shift away from using biogas to generate electricity, which still makes up a significant portion of Canada’s existing biogas facilities, and toward biogas to RNG.

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The trend toward RNG production is also present in the U.S., explains Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council. For the past couple years, roughly 75% to 90% of new biogas projects coming online have been dedicated to RNG production, with around a hundred new projects expected each year.

Growth Drivers
RNG offers a unique value proposition, with several qualities that offer significant value to those pursuing decarbonization. Serfass explains that RNG is most often more attractive than biogas to power because it fetches a higher price. “Part of the reason for that is that if you need natural gas to make whatever [product you produce], whether you’re making transportation fuel or cosmetics, for example, that [manufacturing] process requires heat,” Serfass says. “You really don’t have any other ... renewable options, besides RNG for heat. It’s incredibly inefficient to use electricity to meet those heating needs, especially when you’re talking about large quantities of heat.”

As a fully fungible replacement for natural gas, there are myriad RNG applications because of the natural gas infrastructure engrained in North America’s way of life, installed in schools, homes and offices, Chase (Dylan Chase, manager of public relations for the RNG Coalition) explains. Reusing the existing infrastructure has environmental benefits and makes it easier to develop these projects and deliver fuel to end users quickly with the knowledge that there are existing users.

The use of compressed RNG as a fuel powering heavy-duty vehicles and fleets constitutes another market opportunity that drives growth. The California Low Carbon Fuel Standard’s 2023 carbon intensity scores for various renewable fuels gave biobased compressed natural gas a CI score of -126.42, making it the fuel with the lowest score by a significant margin.

Large vehicle fleets are a significant opportunity for RNG as companies and governments seek a sustainable solution to diesel, Serfass explains. Vehicles running on natural gas can now be found in city bus fleets, Coca-Cola fleets, UPS and FedEx delivery trucks and others. Decarbonizing those vehicles could be as simple as using RNG instead of natural gas. “It is a much bigger leap for a company to totally switch their vehicles to an electric fleet,” he says. “In the case of heavy-duty vehicles, it doesn’t really make practical sense because of the weight and space of the batteries needed to make those electrical.”

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Feedstock Dynamics

Currently, there are four main feedstocks used in the North American RNG industry: wastewater accounts for 4% of projects, food waste makes up 5%, agricultural waste makes up 24% and municipal solid waste (MSW)/landfill gas constitutes the most by far, at 67%.

Stadnyk explains that Canadian cities are demonstrating an interest in using anerobic digestion to process source-separated organics (SSO). “On-farm organic waste is so much more prevalent, and without green bin programs and organics diversion, a lot of the food waste is just being sent to landfill,” she says. “However, more and more municipalities are implementing green bin programs, so that’s really good—we’re getting more organics diversion. One consideration is that SSO, the green bin material, can have more contamination, but there are technological solutions available to address that.”

One of the fastest-growing sectors, dairy waste RNG developments make up a substantial amount of the industry’s newly producing projects. In 2024, 24% of North America’s RNG came from agricultural and dairy waste, explains Chase. “Dairy farm energy projects are a really critical tool to reduce emissions in the dairy sector, which contributes a significant portion of methane greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.

The largest-volume feedstock, MSW, is continuing to grow, according to Chase.

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Advocacy Priorities
Public education regarding RNG’s value, how it works and why it is useful is a key focus of the RNG Coalition moving forward, and an important element that impacts the voluntary market’s role in encouraging the growth of RNG. The public perception of a clean energy solution’s “impact and viability” influences corporate entities’ decision making when selecting a decarbonization strategy, Chase explains. Although there may be some critics of RNG who challenge its use, categorizing it as an imperfect solution and claiming that it cannot replace the entire gas supply, these criticisms are a way of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” when looking for ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, he says.

Chase believes it is key to emphasize RNG’s value as a significant molecule with a critical role to play in the energy transition, due to its potential to decarbonize heavy industry and serve as a feedstock for bio-LNG, clean hydrogen and biomethanol.

Stadnyk and her team promote awareness through their two microsites, which make available self-assessment tools and case studies aimed at educating rural and municipal communities about the benefits of biogas and RNG.

On the policy front, Serfass would like to see guidance come out from the U.S. Department of Treasury for the Inflation Reduction Act in order to make the tax credits useful to the industry. “We think the more flexible the tax credits can be—especially 45Z—to encompass all renewable fuels or renewable sources of electricity, the better. It’s in the country’s best interest to be inclusive of all the renewable energy technologies out there,” he says. READ MORE

Excerpt from Viridi Energy/Biomass Magazine: According to Boston Consulting Group’s report, “Is Renewable Natural Gas Poised for Future Growth or Doomed to Decline?,” U.S. demand for RNG could increase nearly tenfold to around 2 billion cubic feet per day by 2040. RNG’s scalability makes it particularly attractive to high-demand sectors like AI, data centers and logistics, where energy needs are rapidly rising.

Despite concerns about feedstock limitations due to the number of existing and developing projects, ample supply remains. BCG estimates that less than one-third of economically viable RNG feedstocks are currently under contract, suggesting sufficient inventory to meet growing demand as operators shift toward more complex, higher-potential projects.

At Viridi Energy, we see this emerging infrastructure as an essential driver of the next chapter of RNG. In the coming years, RNG will increasingly enter the everyday lives of regular energy consumers—not just as a fuel for specialized uses, but as a true complement to traditional natural gas in powering everything from home heating systems to the electricity grids that keep their lights on.

Two decades after RNG first emerged in the alternative energy conversation, the industry has made significant strides from its early days of landfill gas projects. While challenges remain, there are strong reasons for optimism backed by real progress.

Today, the sector benefits from experienced teams, technological advancements that lower costs, and increased investor interest. With hundreds of facilities already operating and many more in development, the groundwork for RNG’s success is well established. READ MORE