Archaea Energy enters 20-year RFS agreement with FortisBC

Archaea Energy Inc., an industry-leading renewable natural gas (RNG) company, announced Jan. 27 that it is expanding its commercial partnership with FortisBC Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Fortis Inc. by entering into a new long-term RNG purchase and sale agreement. This is the second long-term commercial agreement between Archaea and FortisBC, a leading energy solutions provider in British Columbia, Canada, serving approximately 1.2 million customers with natural gas, electricity, propane and renewable energy solutions.

Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval by the British Columbia Utilities Commission, FortisBC expects to purchase up to 8 million gigajoules (approximately 7.6 million MMBtu) of RNG generated by Archaea annually from its portfolio of RNG production facilities for a fixed fee for a period of 20 years. The agreement is expected to commence in 2022 upon regulatory approval, with the full annual quantity beginning in 2025. The RNG produced by Archaea for this long-term partnership is expected to help FortisBC meet its stated goal of having 15 percent of its natural gas supply be renewable by 2030.

“We are excited to grow and strengthen our long-term partnership with FortisBC by entering into another long-term agreement in just over a year,” said Brian McCarthy, Archaea’s chief investment officer. “This landmark deal, which we believe is the largest RNG supply contract signed to date, is enabled by the breadth of our RNG project portfolio and highlights our ability to scale production with our partners’ growing demand for lower-carbon solutions. FortisBC is a pioneer in RNG usage and at the forefront of utility decarbonization. Archaea is honored to partner with FortisBC and support their ambitious goals for British Columbia.”

“If approved, this agreement would be our largest RNG supply agreement to date,” explained Joe Mazza, vice-president of energy supply and resource development with FortisBC. “We’re committed to the significant and rapid expansion of our renewable gas supply and we’re excited to work with a renewable energy leader like Archaea to deliver affordable, carbon neutral gas to British Columbians.”

FortisBC’s RNG program, which began in 2011, was the first utility program in North America to offer RNG to customers. FortisBC is working towards having around 75 per cent of the natural gas in its system derived from renewable sources by 2050.