Vermont Public Service Board Authorizes RNG Project
(Vermont Public Service Board/Biomass Magazine) The Vermont Public Service Board recently authorized the construction and operation of a renewable natural gas (RNG) facility on a farm in Salisbury, Vermont. The project will use primarily manure, corn silage, and brewery waste to produce pipeline-grade natural gas for sale to Middlebury College and Vermont Gas Systems.
Located on the Goodrich family dairy farm, the facility will include an anaerobic digester tank system to produce biogas, and gas upgrade and purification equipment to refine the biogas into the finished product. The project’s fuel sources will include a mix of manure, corn silage, and other crop residue from the host and neighboring farms, along with brewery waste from a local beer brewery. The final output will be interchangeable with pipeline-grade natural gas in form and quality, with a methane content of 97 percent. The renewable natural gas will be delivered to the “gas island” in Middlebury that provides natural gas to Middlebury College, with future injection into the underground distribution system operated by VGS.
Middlebury College expects to use 75 percent of the project’s output towards achieving the college’s carbon neutrality and campus sustainability objectives. VGS will buy some or all of the remaining output. The project’s developer, Lincoln Renewable Natural Gas, is also exploring the potential for using the RNG product as an alternative vehicle fuel. READ MORE
