Chesapeake Utilities completes first RNG injections from Florida facility

New York-listed Chesapeake Utilities Corporation announced on June 26 the first injections of renewable natural gas (RNG) at its Radio Avenue injection point in Yulee, Florida, from its facility at Full Circle Dairy in Madison County.

FPU Renewables, which constructed and operates the RNG facility, and its parent company, Florida Public Utilities Company, are subsidiaries of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation.

These injections are part of the commissioning phase of the company's first RNG development project, which included the construction and operation of a dairy manure-to-biogas RNG facility at Full Circle Dairy. The RNG is transported from the facility to the injection site by Chesapeake Utilities' subsidiary Marlin Gas Services, a provider of virtual pipeline solutions. In the facility's first month of production, approximately 4,700 dekatherms of RNG have been captured and transported to the injection site.

The RNG facility at Full Circle Dairy, which began construction in February 2023, captures and cleans methane from manure generated by dairy cows. The facility is expected to produce an average of 100,000 dekatherms/year and represents a capital investment of $22mn.

It is projected to capture and redirect approximately 1,116 tonnes/year of methane. According to the EPA greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator, this methane reduction equates to over 6,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year and a CO2 emissions reduction equivalent to the annual energy consumption of more than 3,500 homes.

The fuel injection point in Yulee, constructed in 2023, has been adapted to enable alternative fuels, such as RNG, to be delivered into the existing pipeline delivery system, supporting the growing demand for energy in Nassau County.

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is not affiliated with Chesapeake Energy, an oil and natural gas exploration company headquartered in Oklahoma City.