LNG

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the US producer of natural gas make from waste, said its latest facility at Victory Farms Dairy in South Dakota has successfully completed construction and is injecting pipeline-quality gas into the interstate natural gas infrastructure.

The Victory Farms two-digester facility is utilizing the manure of 6,000 Jersey cows, which could process approximately 120,000 gallons of manure each day to produce an estimated 900,000 gallons of negative carbon-intensity Renewable Natural gas (RNG) annually.

The RNG produced at the facility in Revillo, South Dakota, will find its way to Clean Energy’s fueling network, helping commercial fleets reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions significantly and immediately.

Clean Energy currently operates over 600 fuel stations around North America that provide fuel and services to customers.

Logistics customers

Its fixed customer bases includes some of the largest logistics operators like UPS and Amazon, many transit agencies including those in New York City and Los Angeles, and dozens of waste companies including WM, Republic Services and Waste Connections.

Developed in partnership with Dynamic Renewables and financed through one of Clean Energy’s production joint ventures, the construction costs of the RNG facility in South Dakota, including the build of the manure collection facility, digestors and the processing plant, totalled around $26 million.

Clean Energy, which is based in Newport Beach, California, said it was also in the process of filing the necessary applications to generate federal and state environmental credits.

“We are committed to working with dairies to bring more RNG into the market,” said Clay Corbus, senior Vice President of Renewables at Clean Energy

“Projects like Victory Farms will provide us the fuel to help decarbonize heavy-duty transportation while simultaneously providing an additional revenue stream for dairy owners and helping with their waste management,” Corbus explained.

“With fleets quickly learning that RNG is a proven solution readily available now, it is perfect timing that Victory Farms and the other dairy facilities are coming online to meet the growing demand,” Corbus stated.

GHG emissions

Agriculture accounts for nearly 10 percent of US GHG emissions and the transportation sector accounts for another 28 percent, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Capturing methane from farm waste lowers these emissions and RNG produced by that captured methane and used as a transportation fuel, significantly lowers GHG emissions on a lifecycle basis when compared to diesel fuel.

This allows RNG to be one of the only fuels to receive a negative carbon-intensity score based on the reduction of emissions at the source and at the vehicle.

“Victory Farms is part of an industry that is uniquely positioned to have the opportunity to produce such a sustainable and valuable by-product from everyday waste,” said the owners of Victory Farms. 


“We are incredibly proud of what we are doing here, and that we’ve been able to partner with Clean Energy to help create a healthier planet,” they added.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the largest provider of renewable natural gas (RNG) made from waste for the trucking market, has opened a huge filling station that will provide 1.4 million gallons of RNG annually for online retailer Amazon and other truck fleets in the greater Chicago area.

“The addition of the Romeoville station to our fuelling network represents another step in the pathway for Amazon to realize significant carbon reduction for its transportation fleets,” said Chad Lindholm, senior vice president of Clean Energy.

“Trucks that operate on diesel are incredibly harmful to the air we breathe. Renewable natural gas is a viable solution that provides immediate benefits and as such this station will mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions in the Chicago area,” added Lindholm.

Clean Energy is already investing in the production of RNG with two European partners, TotalEnergies of France and BP of the UK, at dairies throughout the Midwest.

“The RNG produced at these dairies and others around the country will flow into the Romeoville station and Clean Energy’s nationwide fuelling infrastructure,” said the company, based in Newport Beach, California.

Acreage

Clean Energy said that the Romeoville station spans 8.2 acres and includes multiple public access fast-fill dispensers for easy in-and-out fuelling of RNG.

It has time-fill posts for up to 152 trucks, allowing for cost-effective fuelling and the most advanced technology transmitting real-time data to customers. It also has 153 parking places for personal vehicles.

“This multi-million-dollar station gives the thousands of heavy-duty trucking fleets that operate throughout the busy Chicago area the ability to fuel with a clean, renewable and sustainable fuel,” said Romeoville Mayor John Noak.

“We’re pleased that fleets that operate in Romeoville will now have the option to use RNG fuel,” he added.

Located at 300 Southcreek Parkway, the Romeoville station is part of an agreement between Clean Energy and Amazon for Clean Energy to build 19 stations nationwide.

The station initially will fuel more than 100 Amazon trucks and is designed with sufficient fuelling capacity to accommodate several hundred more trucks.