Viridi Energy has teamed up with American Organic Energy to convert 210,000 tons of food waste per year into renewable natural gas (RNG).
The project leverages AOE’s facility in Yaphank, New York, which houses an anaerobic digester to process food waste in the New York City metropolitan area. The initiative diverts food waste from landfills up to 300 miles away and transforms it into RNG through a process called anaerobic digestion where bacteria breaks down organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The project will also convert food waste into other renewable products, such as fertilizer.
The project comes at a time when food waste management–and the conversion of waste into renewable energy – has become the target of large investments. Earlier this year, technology firm Divert announced a $1 billion agreement with Enbridge for the development of RNG facilities that will convert food waste into clean energy across North America and fund the expansion of its anaerobic digestion facilities. Other major initiatives have focused on diverting or reducing food water over the past several years, including those by retailers such as Meijer.
Food waste makes up an estimated 30%-40% of the U.S. food supply, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Plus, food waste is the single most common material landfilled and incinerated across the U.S., according to Viridi. With such a significant environmental impact, three federal agencies – EPA, the FDA, and the Department of Agriculture – banded together to halve food waste by 2030.
The partnership between AOE and Viridi will generate emissions reductions of nearly 100,000 tons of carbon each year. The renewable fuel production equivalent is 10 million gallons of gasoline annually.
“This landmark project demonstrates to the renewable energy industry that large-scale food waste-to-RNG projects are viable as robust financial investments and as environmentally impactful solutions to our greenhouse gas emissions and food waste crises,” Dan Crouse, CEO of Viridi, said in a statement.
According to Viridi, the project will deliver RNG at “an attractive price-per-ton of CO2” without dependence on the credit markets. Viridi has signed an off-take agreement with British Columbia-based energy solutions provider FortisBC, in which FortisBC will purchase the RNG produced at the AOE facility to deliver to its customers. The agreement has a term length of 20 years.
Viridi Energy is a full-service RNG platform that works with the owners of biogas-producing assets that turn organic feedstocks, such as landfill emissions, animal waste, municipal waste, and food waste, into energy. The company has had a handful of big deals in 2023, including partnerships with Marathon County, Wisconsin, and Baldwin County, Alabama, to turn its landfill emissions into clean RNG. Viridi was founded in 2022, with funding from Warburg Pincus and Green Rock Energy Partners.
Financing partners supporting the construction of the project include JP Morgan, NY Green Bank, and Pathward. The carbon intensity of the AOE facility, located at the Long Island Compost site, will be approximately 100gCO2e/MJ.
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