Dairies in Arizona are turning agricultural waste into innovative renewable energy. Earlier this spring, Southwest Gas celebrated the grand opening of its latest renewable natural gas (RNG) interconnect project with Butterfield Dairy in Buckeye, Arizona. With technologies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and partnerships like this that establish connection points between dairies and the natural gas distribution system, Southwest Gas is helping to make RNG available to the market.
As part of a sustainable and balanced energy future, RNG is one of the most promising new energy supplies – a sustainable low-carbon fuel produced by safely capturing, cleaning, and upgrading biogas produced from various sources, including animal waste, wastewater treatment facilities and landfills. The Butterfield RNG plant will produce as much as 3-million therms of pipeline quality RNG, equivalent to the annual usage of 6,000 households. Investing in and constructing natural gas pipeline interconnections ensures that the RNG produced can be made available to the market through the Southwest Gas distribution system, helping businesses, communities and the transportation industry meet their respective emissions reduction goals.
“The dairy industry has seen a lot of change since our family started in the 1620s in Holland and maintaining an innovative edge has never been more important than it is today,” said Butterfield Dairy owner Tommy de Jong. “We’re thrilled to partner with Southwest Gas and are confident that these RNG developments will not only help us to continue to care for our animals but will provide clean energy for generations to come.”
The raw biogas produced at the dairy is upgraded to pipeline-quality RNG that can be injected into the Southwest Gas system. This process makes use of the raw biogas that may otherwise rise into the atmosphere or be flared off at the site. RNG can be delivered through existing natural gas pipelines and is compatible with existing natural gas appliances, industrial equipment and compressed natural gas vehicles without any modifications. This means end-users do not need to change their natural gas equipment to use RNG.
To date, Southwest Gas has constructed interconnections with five RNG projects to transport pipeline-quality RNG to the market. Together, these five projects are anticipated to produce over 13-million therms of RNG:
- Tres Rios Wastewater Project in Tucson, Ariz.
- SoCal Biomethane at the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority facility in Victorville, Calif.
- Sunoma Renewable Biofuel Project in Gila Bend, Ariz.
- Maricopa RNG 1, LLC, at the Milky Way Dairy in Maricopa, Ariz.
- Butterfield RNG 1, LLC, at the Butterfield Dairy in Buckeye, Ariz.
“We continually strive to exceed our customers’ expectations by safely delivering reliable and sustainable energy which helps to preserve our natural resources, contribute to energy diversity, and foster economic development and growth in our communities,” said Dr. Laura Nelson, Southwest Gas Vice President of Sustainability and Public Policy. “Innovative energy solutions, like RNG, help communities move towards their decarbonization goals.”
The Butterfield RNG project was developed by Avolta, a renewable energy company focused on originating and developing RNG projects, with its regional development partner, Atlas Global Holdings, LLC. The project will be operated and maintained by Nacelle Solutions, a gas technology and service company with design and operational expertise in both the Oil & Gas and Biogas industries.
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