Vermont Gas describes renewable natural gas supply, local farm project and farm benefits

Vermont Gas Systems told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Jan. 30 that renewable natural gas is part of its supply mix and that capturing methane from organic sources reduces greenhouse-gas emissions.

Neil Lunderville, president and CEO of Vermont Gas Systems, said the company has contracted for pipeline-quality renewable natural gas that comes from multiple North American sources and that the company currently has “almost 4% renewable natural gas as part of our overall gas portfolio.” He described the product as gas produced by capturing methane from organic feedstocks that would otherwise emit to the atmosphere, using anaerobic digestion and upgrade equipment so the gas meets pipeline quality standards.

“There are systems that actually catch that...and then, upgrade it through a process that upgrades it to be what we call pipeline quality gas and injects it in our system,” Lunderville said in testimony. He listed the principal feedstocks as manure on farms, landfill gas, wastewater treatment and food waste and said the injection and testing process includes chromatograph testing at the upgrade site and again at the utility gate station to ensure gas quality.

Company witnesses said Vermont Gas purchases RNG through contracts rather than owning the production facilities. They described one operating farm-based digester in Salisbury, Vermont, that supplies RNG under contract and said another Franklin County project is near commissioning and will be connected to the distribution network.

Vermont Gas told the committee that RNG projects can provide direct benefits to participating farms, including reduced bedding costs, improved management of phosphorus in digestate and an additional lease revenue stream paid by RNG developers. Lunderville said farms realize multiple on‑farm benefits beyond the revenue from gas sales.

On environmental benefits, he said capturing and combusting methane reduces atmospheric methane emissions and noted methane’s higher near‑term global‑warming potential compared with carbon dioxide. The company estimated its efficiency and program work has prevented roughly 45,000 metric tons of emissions since program inception and said that figure is roughly equivalent to removing 9,700 vehicles from the road.

Company witnesses also discussed market mechanisms that can affect RNG economics: a California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit market and federal renewable-fuel credits such as RINs (renewable identification numbers). They said RNG project economics often rely on a mix of credit revenue sources and that national RNG production and routing are similar to the continent‑wide natural‑gas network, so supply can come from multiple jurisdictions.

Vermont Gas noted it currently sources RNG from in‑state and out‑of‑state facilities and from a landfill in New York and wastewater plants in Canada under contract, and that the utility has built infrastructure to receive additional local RNG projects as they come online.