2021 Brings More Renewable Natural Gas into SoCalGas Pipelines

Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) announced that 14 billion cubic feet of renewable natural gas (RNG) produced from organic waste was distributed via SoCalGas' pipeline system in 2021, the equivalent to removing 166,896 cars off the road annually. This is 2 billion cubic feet more than 12 billion cubic feet distributed by SoCalGas in 2020. In addition, the utility completed five RNG interconnection projects last year located throughout its service territory including the San Joaquin Valley and San Bernardino County. In total there are now nine RNG projects connected to SoCalGas' system.

As part of SoCalGas' goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its operations and delivery of energy by 2045, the utility plans to deliver 20% RNG to core customers by end of 2030 and continues to make significant progress towards reaching its goal.

"Thanks in part to the low carbon fuel standards program, last year more than 14 billion cubic feet of RNG was transported by the SoCalGas' pipeline system, displacing more than 778,000 metric tons in carbon dioxide equivalent," said Jawaad Malik, chief environmental officer for SoCalGas. "The establishment of an RNG procurement standard for gas utilities, like the one up for vote by the CPUC could help build on the success of California's low carbon fuel standard and help bring more renewable natural gas onto our system to accelerate California's decarbonization goals."

"These RNG projects are an important step toward helping San Joaquin Valley residents and our Dairy industry partners move in the right direction," said California Assemblymember Devon J. Mathis. "RNG uses existing dairy manure and natural gas infrastructure to deliver a cleaner, carbon-negative fuel to trucks that would replace diesel trucks, reducing air pollution along the San Joaquin Valley's freeway corridors while providing jobs and revenue sources for our residents."

One of the projects produces RNG from diverted landfill waste, completed last May by Anaergia, Inc. (Anaergia) at its Rialto Bioenergy Facility. The facility has the capacity to convert up to 300,000 tons per year of landfill-diverted organic waste and biosolids from municipal wastewater treatment facilities into fertilizer and up to 985,000 MMBTU per year of RNG using Anaergia's advanced anaerobic digestion technology and proprietary systems. The RNG is injected into SoCalGas' pipeline.

"As a global leader in anaerobic digestion and upcycling of organic waste, Anaergia has deployed more infrastructure capacity for converting food and wastewater biosolids than any other company in California," said Yaniv Scherson, chief operating officer for Anaergia. "Our Rialto Bioenergy Facility, the largest landfill-diverted organics-to-RNG facility in North America, will be central in helping California cut methane emissions from landfills under SB 1383, and stands as a model of efficiently converting organic waste into carbon-negative renewable fuel."

"The completion of this RNG project in Rialto is an important step toward reaching the state's climate and environmental goals," said Mayor of Rialto, Deborah Robertson. "As RNG is a cleaner, carbon-negative fuel, this project has the potential to help reduce air pollution in the Inland Empire while creating economic opportunities for our residents."

The production and use of RNG is growing in California and nationally. There are currently more than 245 operational RNG facilities in the United States, with another 105 under construction and 118 planned. Additionally, over the last five years, RNG use as a transportation fuel has increased 291 percent, displacing close to 7.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).

Last month, SoCalGas released its ASPIRE 2045 SoCalGas Sustainability Strategy, outlining goals and benchmarks around environmental health, social equity, and wellbeing in the communities SoCalGas serves. To learn more about SoCalGas' commitment and the steps it will take to achieve it.