WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.,
April 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/
-- OPAL Fuels LLC, a Fortistar portfolio company, and NextEra
Energy Marketing, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources,
LLC today announced plans to build the first landfill renewable
natural gas (RNG) production facility in Minnesota. The project will be located at a
landfill owned by Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG), a leader in
the U.S. environmental services industry, and interconnect with a
pipeline owned by Xcel Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: XEL), the leading
electric and gas utility in the region.
OPAL Fuels and NextEra Energy announced the first landfill
renewable natural gas production facility in Minnesota
For many years, OPAL, which was previously known as Fortistar
RNG and TruStar Energy, has collected and processed gas to generate
electricity at the 255-acre Pine Bend Landfill in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. NextEra Energy
Marketing will work with OPAL to replace the existing power
generation facility with a new RNG production facility that will
capture 3,200 standard cubic feet per minute of landfill gas and
produce over 6 million gas gallon equivalents (GGE) of RNG per
year. The Pine Bend RNG Project will create approximately 50
to 60 construction jobs. Once completed in the first quarter
of 2022, the project will capture and convert landfill methane to
produce approximately 2,140 dekatherms of RNG per day, which is
enough to eliminate 43,900 metric tons of carbon and offset direct
(scope 1) emissions from 400 heavy-duty (class 8) trucks every
year. OPAL will operate and manage the RNG project, and clean
renewable natural gas fuel will be dispensed to customers via
OPAL's natural gas fueling stations.
"Our agreement with NextEra Energy Marketing and Republic
Services offers a tremendous economic and environmental opportunity
for the State of Minnesota. From
both a fiscal and sustainability standpoint, renewable natural gas
is the highest value product you can make from captured landfill
gas," said Jonathan Maurer,
co-CEO of OPAL. "We're proud to work with industry leaders and
continue to play a major role in the decarbonization of our
nation's economy by capturing methane to create cleaner fuel for
natural gas vehicles."
"We're pleased to be working with OPAL and Republic Services on
this innovative project," said John
Ketchum, president and chief executive officer of NextEra
Energy Resources. "This transaction is consistent with our
belief that a substantial, and economic decarbonization of the
electricity, industrial, and transportation sectors is possible
which represents a significant investment opportunity in the coming
decades."
"As a leader in the environmental services industry, Republic
Services is proud of this innovative partnership with OPAL and
NextEra at our Pine Bend Landfill to create Minnesota's first renewable natural gas
facility," said Pete Keller,
Republic Services vice president of recycling and
sustainability. "This project will allow us to utilize a
natural byproduct of the landfill to produce low-carbon
transportation fuels and other forms of renewable energy and help
Republic meet our goal of sending 50 percent more biogas to
beneficial reuse by 2030."
The project is driven by an exceptional match among several
companies, equally passionate about innovation and the transition
to environmental sustainability in their respective industries. For
OPAL, the Pine Bend RNG Project is the sixth in a series of 12 RNG
projects that will require nearly $500
million of capital investment and capture the equivalent of
more than 2 million metric tons of CO2 annually—the
equivalent of taking approximately 435,000 passenger cars off the
road. Republic Services is involved with gas-to-energy
projects at 69 of its landfills, and 20 percent of its fleet is
powered by natural gas, including RNG derived from landfills.
This joint project directly supports Republic Services' commitment
to send 50 percent more landfill gas to beneficial reuse by
2030.
Inver Grove Heights Mayor
Tom Bartholomew, who led the City
Council in approving the project said, "This facility is
exactly the kind of development we encourage in our community. It
brings innovative new technology and jobs to our area, and it's
good for the state's economy and the environment. Inver Grove Heights is leading the way by
creating this opportunity in Minnesota, and we hope other cities will
follow suit with additional renewable energy
projects."
About OPAL Fuels LLC:
OPAL Fuels LLC, a Fortistar
portfolio company, is an emerging leader in the production and
distribution of renewable natural gas (RNG), a proven low
carbon fuel with a decades-long track record of
results that has the power to rapidly
decarbonize the transportation industry. OPAL captures
harmful methane emissions at the
source and recycles the trapped energy into a
commercially-viable, low-cost alternative to
diesel fuel. As a vertically-integrated producer and
distributor of RNG for heavy-duty truck fleets
for over 20 years, OPAL delivers best-in-class, complete
renewable solutions to customers and production partners. To
learn more about OPAL and how it is leading the
effort to decarbonize North
America's transportation industry, please
visit www.opalfuels.com and follow the company on
LinkedIn and Twitter at @OPALFuels.
About NextEra Resources, LLC:
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a clean energy leader and is one
of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S.,
with approximately 23,900 megawatts of total net generating
capacity, primarily in 38 states and Canada as of year-end 2020. NextEra Energy
Resources, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's
largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun based
on 2020 megawatt hours produced on a net generation basis, and a
world leader in battery storage. The business operates clean,
emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy
nuclear fleet. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a subsidiary of
Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). For more information, visit
www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Media Contact:
Charles Chamberlayne
cchamberlayne@fortistar.com
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SOURCE OPAL Fuels LLC