TotalEnergies, Vanguard partner to develop RNG projects in US
France's TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables, a farm-based organics-to-renewable natural gas (RNG) producer, have signed an agreement to establish an equally owned joint venture to develop RNG projects in the US, the French company announced on April 24.
Under the agreement, TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables will advance 10 RNG projects into construction within the next 12 months. These projects will have a combined RNG capacity of 0.8 TWh (2.5bn ft³)/year. The initial three projects, currently under construction in Wisconsin and Virginia, will each have a unit capacity of nearly 75 GWh (0.25bn ft³)/year of RNG.
In addition to these initial projects, TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables will explore investment opportunities in a potential pipeline of approximately 60 projects nationwide, with a total capacity of 5 TWh (15bn ft³)/year.
The RNG produced from these projects will be marketed through long-term purchase agreements with industrial buyers actively engaged in decarbonising their processes, TotalEnergies said.
The first 10 projects will focus on utilising waste materials from the food and beverage industries, supplemented with dairy manure from dairy farms. Anaerobic digesters will be installed on the dairy farms to process the waste, with the resulting digestate used as a low-carbon, nutrient-dense fertiliser.
Headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts, Vanguard Renewables currently operates 17 organics-to-renewable energy facilities with an annual capacity of over 440 GWh (1.5bn ft³)/year of RNG. Looking ahead, Vanguard Renewables plans to commission over 100 RNG projects by the end of 2028.
In July 2022, Vanguard Renewables was acquired by BlackRock, through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business.