Waste Gas from Landfill Will Offset up to 75% of VIA’s Bus Fuel Demand

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January 4, 2021

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by Brendan Gibbons (San Antonio Report) Enough methane from decaying waste in a private San Antonio landfill can be harvested to offset the need for fossil fuel use by most of VIA Metropolitan Transit’s bus fleet, officials say.

CPS Energy, VIA, and energy company EDL are working on an initiative that will provide CPS Energy with natural gas from Republic Services’ Tessman Road landfill just south of Interstate 10 on San Antonio’s East Side. That gas will be part of a renewable fuel credit swap that will generate revenue for VIA while putting a former waste product to use.

The landfill methane will make up only 1 percent to 2 percent of the entire supply in CPS Energy’s distribution system, said Richard Lujan, CPS Energy’s senior director of gas solutions. Still, CPS Energy expects it will receive enough of the landfill methane to offset the fossil fuel-derived natural gas needed for an estimated 75 percent of VIA’s fleet of 502 buses, Lujan said.

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But renewable natural gas (RNG) is gaining interest as a vehicle fuel across the U.S. Dallas Area Rapid Transit began integrating RNG into its fleet in 2018. The Environmental Protection Agency counts 67 active landfill RNG projects across the U.S. in 2020.

EDL, an international power supplier headquartered in Australia, will convert its existing landfill gas power plant at the Tessman Road landfill to a plant that can inject pipeline-quality gas into CPS Energy’s system. CPS Energy will get the gas at a “favorable” price, Lujan said, though he declined to cite a specific price.

The entire exchange relies on renewable energy credits generated by the EPA as a result of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. READ MORE

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