By Todd Neeley
A Texas dairy will be the site of a new biomethane plant announced on Tuesday as part of a joint venture between two renewable energy companies.
France-based TotalEnergies and U.S.-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. are launching construction of a biogas plant at the 3,800-head Del Rio Dairy farm in Friona, Texas, according to a news release from the companies.
“By processing cow manure, a significant source of methane emissions, and substituting fossil fuels with renewable energies, the project will avoid some 45,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year,” the companies said.
As part of the joint venture, biogas produced at the farm using an onsite supply of manure will be used to fuel 200 to 300 trucks per year, according to the release, sold at Clean Energy’s network of fueling stations.
USDA earlier this month unveiled a number of incentives-based programs to help farmers reduce methane emissions. That includes loans and grants for building or improving manure digesters or launching manure-management practices including composting.
Earlier this month Clean Energy and BP announced their renewable natural gas joint venture would build new methane digester plants at dairy farms in Iowa and South Dakota, producing more than 7 million gallons of renewable natural gas from more than 30,000 head annually.
According to the American Biogas Council, there are more than 2,200 sites producing biogas in all 50 states including 250 anaerobic digesters on farms.
The council said there are nearly 15,000 new potential production sites, including on about 8,600 dairy, poultry and swine farms.
According to an assessment by USDA, EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy, new biogas systems could produce enough electricity and reduce emissions by the equivalent of removing 117 million passenger vehicles from the road.
“This project at Del Rio Dairy helps to address the increasing demand for RNG by fleets and is a great example of our partnership with TotalEnergies, one of the world’s leading and most sustainably minded energy companies,” said Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy.
“RNG, one of the cleanest fuels on the planet, manages greenhouse gas emissions and tackles global warming. The added RNG production from Del Rio will help us meet our target to provide this 100% negative carbon emissions fuel at all of our North American stations by 2025.”
The two companies established a 50-50 joint venture in March 2021 to develop renewable natural gas production plants and fueling sites across the U.S.
In August 2021, Clean Energy announced numerous contracts to provide renewable natural gas to cities and municipalities.
Clean Energy signed a multi-year agreement with the city of Pasadena, California, to provide about 1.5 million gallons of RNG to fuel 53 vehicles, including transit buses, dump trucks and street sweepers.
Clean Energy extended by five years a renewable natural gas fueling contract with Big Blue Bus, the transit agency that services Santa Monica, California, to provide about 10 million gallons for a 189-bus fleet.
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