Top: Graphics courtesy American Biogas Council

The American Biogas Council’s (ABC) new “Data Digest” series tracking U.S. biogas project activity came out on February 2. “With the IRS and Treasury Department’s proposed regulations on Energy Property Under Section 48 focusing attention on renewable natural gas (RNG)-related capital investment, we are looking at the latest metrics for the RNG sector,” notes Ian Taylor, ABC Data & Analysis Manager. The statistics report 350 RNG projects currently in operation across the U.S., including 239 anaerobic digester (AD) projects (68%) with more than 400 digesters among them, and 110 landfills (32%). Prior to 2019, 59% of all RNG projects utilized landfill gas. Of the agriculture and food waste RNG projects, 91% are agriculture projects and 9% are stand-alone food waste projects. In 2023, 62 new RNG projects went into operation — 42 at digesters and 20 at landfills. Total investment in RNG projects over the 2019-2023 period is estimated at over $4.1 billion, adds ABC. Total RNG output at projects commencing operations over the 2019-2023 period is estimated at 125,926 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM). Farm-based RNG projects produced an average of 325 SCFM/project over the 2019-2023 period. “RNG projects using food waste feedstocks required significantly higher levels of capital investment when measured against volume of RNG produced, exceeding an average of $85,000/SCFM over 2019-2023,” reports ABC. “New RNG projects using food waste feedstocks involved an average investment of $46.1 million over the 2019-2023 period.”