Wood Mackenzie reports growth in RNG market

According to the report, ‘North American renewable natural gas: state of the market’, the number of RNG projects has doubled in the last five years and 66 future projects were announced in 2022. In total, the North American market size sits at 385 million ft³/d, with states such as Texas (62 million ft³/d), California (33 million ft³/d) and Pennsylvania (33 million ft³/d), leading the way.

Activity has been spurred by recent mandates and incentives aimed at lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, most notably through investment tax credits (ITC) in the Inflation Reduction Act for RNG development and low-carbon fuel programmes in the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard programme.

Natalia Patterson, Senior Research Analyst with Wood Mackenzie, said: “RNG has become more popular as it can have five times lower carbon intensity than natural gas projects and helps reduce emissions considerably when used for transportation fuel. More than half of RNG production is estimated to be consumed as fuel for natural gas vehicles.”

Despite the recent growth, the RNG market currently only makes up 0.5% of the North American natural gas market. Nevertheless, with continued policy support and technology development, Wood Mackenzie projects it will grow to 3% of the market by 2050, for a total of 4 billion ft³/d.

Patterson added: “There are opportunities for new policy framework to drive more activity in the sector, but we will also need to see voluntary efforts as well, particularly from the industrial sector as more firms commit to low carbon initiatives. The growth in the industrial sector would have the potential to dwarf traditional RNG demand in the transportation sector.”

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/18072023/wood-mackenzie-reports-growth-in-renewable-natural-gas-market/