OPAL Fuels, South Jersey Industries sign RNG joint venture

South Jersey Industries (SJI), an energy infrastructure holding company, and OPAL Fuels Inc., a leading vertically integrated producer and distributor of renewable natural gas (RNG) and renewable energy, announced they have entered into a 50/50 joint venture to develop, construct, own and operate RNG facilities. The first facility (the “Atlantic RNG facility”) will be at the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) solid waste landfill in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.

“This project is consistent with our comprehensive clean energy plan, Leading the Way,” said Mike Renna, president & CEO, South Jersey Industries. “Its implementation underscores our current progress and renewed vision to achieve Scope 1 and 2 carbon-neutral operations by 2040 and lead our employees, customers, and communities to a better today and tomorrow. This and future projects with OPAL Fuels will permit us to accelerate achieving these goals.”

“The development of the Atlantic RNG facility with SJI marks just the beginning of our relationship, as together we will bring more production and distribution of RNG to New Jersey,” said Jonathan Maurer, co-CEO of OPAL Fuels. “This joint venture furthers OPAL Fuels’ growth strategy as we look forward to leveraging our operational expertise to work with landfills to maximize the value of their resource and meet their ESG goals faster by displacing diesel fuel with RNG in heavy-duty truck fleets.”

The Atlantic RNG facility will capture naturally occurring biogas, made up in large part by methane from the landfill, which will be upgraded to meet the required quality standards for distribution and sale. The Atlantic RNG facility is anticipated to have a nameplate capacity of 2,500 SCFM of landfill gas and is expected to produce more than 603,000 MMBtu or nearly 4.8 million gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) per year of RNG.

The new Atlantic RNG facility will replace a previously decommissioned power plant and the RNG will be injected into the South Jersey Gas network, an SJI subsidiary, making this project the first of its kind in the gas company’s natural gas distribution system.