Clean Energy Fuels launches latest RNG facility

California-based Clean Energy Fuels (CEF) said February 8 it had begun operations at its latest renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility on a dairy farm operation in South Dakota.

The $34mn facility, on the 5,000-head Tri-Cross Dairy farm in Viborg, is forecast to produce 1mn gallons/year of negative carbon-intensity RNG. Construction was completed in December 2023 and injection of pipeline-quality RNG began shortly after. CEF is in the process of filing the necessary applications to generate federal and state environmental credits.

“We anticipate 2024 to be a pivotal year in the demand for RNG fuel in the transportation market with the introduction of Cummins’ X15N natural gas engine for heavy-duty trucks,” said Clay Corbus, CEF’s senior vice president for renewables. “Clean Energy’s fueling infrastructure is expanding to meet that demand and we’ll need a constant source of additional low-carbon RNG to supply those stations.”

Financing for the Tri-Cross project was backed by one of CEF’s RNG production joint ventures and the facility was developed by Dynamic Renewables. It is one in a series of RNG projects in the US Midwest on which CEF and Dynamic Renewables have partnered.