WM, one of North America's largest comprehensive waste management environmental solutions providers, has announced plans to invest US$825 million in expanding its renewable natural gas (RNG) infrastructure.
WM is currently a leader in the beneficial reuse of landfill gas (LFG), with a growing network of RNG plants and the most landfill gas-to-electricity plants in North America.
We are committed to sustainability through our actions and investments and are proud to transform yesterday’s waste to fuel our future with renewable energy. As an end-to-end vertically integrated environmental services provider, WM is uniquely positioned to expand our RNG footprint within our business, said Tara Hemmer, Chief Sustainability Officer at WM.
Landfill gas is captured and turned into renewable electricity and fuel at 144 of the landfills WM owns or operates.
WM also hosts 100 MW of wind power and almost 54 MW of solar capacity at its closed landfills.
Renewable energy from WM landfill sites is an excellent source of alternative energy that beneficially uses existing landfill gas for communities, Tara Hemmer said.
Expand RNG infrastructure
WM has currently 16 RNG plants across North America through a mix of its own plants and third-party developers.
By investing US$825 million in expanding its renewable natural gas (RNG) infrastructure, WM’s network of RNG plants, landfill gas-to-electricity plants, and other beneficial use projects are estimated to enable the company to provide enough renewable energy to supply the equivalent of 1 million homes across North America.
It will also help WM fuel its entire natural gas vehicle (NGV) fleet with RNG by 2026. This accelerated RNG investment positions the firm to outpace its original goal of fueling 50 percent of its natural gas fleet by 2025.
It provides an opportunity to close the loop with WM’s natural gas fleet, which is the largest fleet of its kind in North America. With this new investment, we are excited to increase projected production at WM-operated RNG facilities by approximately 600 percent in the next four years, said Tara Hemmer.
17 new RNG projects
By 2026, the company plans to expand its RNG network with 17 new RNG projects in several areas across North America including Arkansas (AR), California (CA), Florida (FL), Illinois (IL), Oklahoma, (OK), and Pennsylvania (PA) in the United States (US). as well as Québec (QC) and Ontario (ON) in Canada.
The RNG plants in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Springdale, Arkansas are anticipated to come online in 2022.
The increase in RNG production from the new investments is expected to lead to the displacement of approximately 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2026.
We appreciate this innovation that derives value from waste, and we’re grateful to WM for this unique effort. Investments like this new plant are ultimately positive for our local environment, and a fitting thing to celebrate during Earth Month, said Mayor David Holt, Oklahoma City.
