Chris Voell, left, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Barry Perry of Fortis Inc. discuss renewable issues at the recent World Gas Conference in Washington, D.C. Background: A biogas plant operates in Germany. (Source: Hart Energy, Shutterstock)
WASHINGTON—The astonishing reserves of fossil-based natural gas on the North American continent—100 years of supply for the U.S. and 200 years for Canada—combined with the rapid growth in market share of renewable sources would seem to lock in the energy equation: wind plus solar equals power generation.
Except when the wind doesn’t blow—or blow sufficiently—and the sun doesn’t shine. When that happens, natural gas-fired generation fills in the gaps.
“It’s a match made in heaven,” said Barry Perry, president and CEO of St. John’s, Newfoundland-based utility Fortis Inc., at the recent World Gas Conference. “We are working on some other things like [hydroelectric power] but fundamentally, right now, I think natural gas does complement the growth of renewables, in North America especially.”
That might preclude the need to pursue other sources of renewable energy, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), wary of the challenge of methane leaks along the gas value chain, has its eye on other solutions, including renewable natural gas or biogas.
“Biogas has been captured and used for energy for a long time, for decades both here in the U.S. and around the globe,” said Chris Voell of the EPA’s climate change division. “Traditionally it’s been used for electricity production. Oftentimes that’s where the incentives were placed so that’s where people had direction.”
One of the world’s first biogas projects was built in New York City in 1981 and is still operating. And while it remains a nascent industry in the U.S., Voell said, the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and state-level incentives like California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard are drawing attention to the fuel.
The essence of biogas—or biomethane, renewable natural gas or R-gas as it is also known—is that it is fuel from waste products, either landfills or anaerobic digester (organic waste).
“Microbes eat organic material and burp out biogas,” said Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council at a different session during the conference.
It’s not that simple, but the product is the same whether it originates organically or from a landfill. The biogas needs to be processed to remove carbon dioxide and other trace gases. At that point, Serfass said, it becomes molecularly equivalent to natural gas and has earned the designation of renewable natural gas.
The beauty of this product is that it can be moved around the country using any pipeline system built to handle fossil natural gas. It can then be used for power generation, home uses, commercial uses, vehicles, ships, LNG and CNG.
The question, of course, is why? The shale revolution already provides more natural gas than the U.S. is able to use.
Export opportunities might be one. Europe’s need for gas has prompted it to build about 15,000 operational biogas systems (compared to about 200 in the U.S.) After transport constraints are managed, having a surplus of what is now considered to be a foundational fuel for the next half-century can be considered a good thing.
Serfass is under no illusions that the Trump administration, unlike European governments, will make climate change a primary driver in its energy policy. That is why he focuses on the business argument and the industry’s ability to solve more than one problem.
“When you develop new biogas systems, you’re creating the infrastructure to handle waste,” he said. “The infrastructure to handle food waste, the infrastructure to handle manure, the infrastructure to handle wastewater, biosolvents. Unless we all turn vegan and stop eating meat, we’re going to have animal manure that we have to deal with. Guess what? The animal population is growing.”
On average, each dairy cow in America produces 150 pounds of manure every day. That’s a lot of potential feedstock for a biogas system, not to mention a threat to ground water.
“Why can’t the natural gas industry be a part of the solution for handling these and other problems?” Serfass asked. “I think that’s just a huge opportunity for his industry to be seen as contributing in more ways than just in energy.”
Joseph Markman can be reached at jmarkman@hartenergy.com and @JHMarkman.
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