Photo courtesy of Clean Energy Fuels

Clean Energy Fuels workers examine work plans for a renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility at South Fork Dairy near Dimmitt, Texas.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. of Newport Beach, Calif., broke ground on a renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility at South Fork Dairy, 10 mi. south of Dimmitt, a small Castro County town in the Texas Panhandle.

Home to a 16,000-cow herd, the facility will produce RNG, an ultra-clean transportation fuel made from organic waste that receives a negative carbon-intensity score.

The construction of the digesters and processing plant is forecast to cost approximately $85 million. It is projected to be completed in 2025.

Once operational, the South Fork Dairy facility is set to be one of the biggest RNG production developments in the United States, with an anticipated 2.6 million gal. of natural gas to be produced annually. All RNG fuel produced at the site will make its way into Clean Energy's nationwide network of stations, the company said in a news release.

"We are excited to begin construction on the South Fork Texas project," said Clay Corbus, Clean Energy's senior vice president of renewables. "Building anaerobic digesters at a large dairy like South Fork will help the dairy owner, Frank Brand, and his team collect and monetize sizeable amounts of manure waste while also benefiting from the environmental credits an RNG facility brings. We are proud to call Frank, who is one of the most well-respected people in the dairy industry, our partner."

Brand noted that Clean Energy's plans will "not only helps us convert our waste into a clean, useable and sustainable fuel, but it also helps us with managing manure which for a dairy of our size is quite a feat. We do this while simultaneously reducing our environmental footprint; it's a direction I hope many other dairies will look to pursuing."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has noted that agriculture accounts for nearly 10 percent of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in this country. The method of capturing methane from farm waste, however, can lower these emissions.

RNG is a transportation fuel made entirely from organic waste and drastically reduces GHG emissions by an average of 300 percent versus diesel fuel. It is so clean that the California Air Resources Board gives RNG from dairy farms an average carbon-intensity score of -330, which is substantially lower than electric vehicles charging with electricity on today's grid.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. is the country's largest provider of the cleanest fuel for the transportation market, according to the company. Its mission is to decarbonize transportation through the development and delivery of renewable natural gas. The company's RNG production allows thousands of vehicles, from airport shuttles to city buses to waste and heavy-duty trucks, to reduce their amount of climate-harming greenhouse gas.

To facilitate its goals, Clean Energy operates a vast network of fueling stations across the U.S. and Canada, as well as RNG production facilities at various dairy farms across the country.

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