Production Begins at Indianapolis RNG Plant
(L to R) Joel Zylstra
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowINDIANAPOLIS - Officials in Indianapolis have cut the ribbon on what is being called the largest renewable natural gas facility in Indiana. The Indy High BTU Plant on the city’s south side is the result of a partnership involving Indianapolis-based Kinetrex Energy, EDL Energy in Australia and South Side Landfill in Indy. The facility, which became fully operational in late March, has the capacity to convert methane gas from South Side Landfill into approximately 8 million gallons of pipeline-quality renewable natural gas (RNG) annually.
Kinetrex then uses the RNG to fuel vehicle fleets throughout the Midwest. Casey Holsapple, general counsel and vice president for Kinetrex, says the facility will have a major impact.
“All landfills, including the South Side Landfill, give off methane due to the breakdown of the waste at the landfill. So as the methane escapes into the atmosphere, rather than it just escaping into the atmosphere, we’ll be able to capture the methane and clean it up and turn it into a usable product,” said Holsapple. “So, you’re reducing methane emissions at the landfill and then using renewable natural gas in vehicle fleets – and our customers will be using them in Class 8 trucks – and so whenever a customer uses natural gas and in this case, renewable natural gas, there are substantial environmental benefits from switching from diesel to natural gas.”
Holsapple says when switching from diesel fuel to RNG, emissions can be reduced by up to 90%. He says when you combine the reduction in methane from the landfill with the environmental benefits from the trucks, it creates a process that in some cases can be carbon neutral.
Kinetrex says the Indy plant’s reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is equivalent to removing up to 19,000 passenger cars from the road each year.
The facility will supply Kinetrex with RNG, which the company will then turn into liquefied natural gas (LNG) and sell to transportation fleets in the Midwest. Kinetrex has already signed a six-year agreement with UPS (NYSE: UPS) to supply up to 52.5 million gallons of LNG for the company’s fleets in Chicago, Toledo, Columbus, St. Louis and Indianapolis.
Holsapple says the company hopes the Indianapolis facility is the first of many in the Midwest and around the country.
“The great thing is that people continue to have trash and so the landfills continue to grow. I consider the RNG space to be maybe where the solar and wind space was 10 or 15 years ago and so it’s still a technology or a process where projects are numbered throughout the country in the dozens, whereas now there are hundreds, if not thousands, of solar and wind projects. So there is the opportunity to make the RNG industry something that is as big as the solar or wind industry is now. And there’s a lot of applications, too, for RNG outside of the transportation space; there are a lot of utilities that are looking at sourcing renewable natural gas versus fossil natural gas to offset some of their own carbon emission or greenhouse gas emissions.”
Holsapple says more new opportunities are going to be created in the RNG space and Kinetrex is looking to position itself as a leader not just in Indiana, but the entire United States.
You can view more from the ribbon cutting, courtesy of Kinetrex Energy, by clicking here.
Holsapple says the facility will have a major impact.
Holsapple says the company hopes the Indianapolis facility is the first of many in the Midwest and around the country.