Archaea Energy, Republic Services mark completion of renewable natural gas plant
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A joint venture between BP subsidiary Archaea Energy and Phoenix-based Republic Services cut the ribbon Thursday on its first renewable natural gas plant in Fort Wayne.
Lightning Renewables built the Archaea Modular Design (AMD) plant at Republic’s National Serv-All Landfill, and the plant is scheduled to come online this summer.
The plant is designed to capture methane gas created by the landfill and convert it into renewable natural gas.
Tim Oudman, senior vice president of sustainability innovation at Republic Services, told Inside INdiana Business that Fort Wayne was a natural choice for the first what what are 40 planned AMD plants.
“It’s a community that we’ve operated in for a really long time, and [it’s] just a great fit,” Oudman said. “Historically, Republic had selected our renewable natural gas partners on a one-off basis. And we went to the market with a portfolio and selected BP Archaea because of their commitment to sustainability. [They’re] world-class operators with safety as the top value.”
As opposed to traditional RNG plants that are typically custom-built, the AMD plants are built on skids with interchangeable components, which Archaea says allows for faster builds.
“We want to keep continuing to grow and be a leading developer in this space, and the partnership with Republic Services allows some continuity between two companies with a very similar culture focus on safety and sustainability,” Archaea CEO Starlee Sykes told IIB.
The Fort Wayne plant is in the final stages of commissioning, Sykes said. When operational, the plant will have the capacity to produce enough renewable natural gas to heat more than 25,000 homes annually.
“As waste decomposes, it naturally emits methane gas and other gases, and so rather than those being burned or managed a different way, we pull those gases into our plant,” she said. “Then we go through a process of cleaning up the gas—upgrading and cleaning it up—so that we’ve got quality methane gas to re-inject into the pipeline.”
Construction on the plant began over a year ago, and Sykes said the final commissioning is expected to be complete in a matter of weeks. The project is expected to add eight high-wage jobs.
“It’s nice to see it become a reality,” Oudman said. “And it’s just going to build momentum from there; we’ve got more sites that will come on in Indiana, more sites that will come on across the United States, and likely more sites that get added to the Lightning Renewables portfolio over time.”
One of those other Indiana sites is already in the works. Lightning Renewables has plans for an AMD plant that is expected to come online in the Vigo County community of Pimento later this year.
Republic said the plants directly support the company’s goal of reusing 50% more biogas by 2030.
The Fort Wayne project also builds on Archaea’s footprint in Indiana; the company began operation of another RNG plant in the Jackson County town of Medora last October.