TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables Start Construction of New Farm-Based Renewable Natural Gas Project in Virginia

AMELIA COURT HOUSE, Va., Oct. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TotalEnergies announces today that it has broken ground on the Oakmulgee Dairy Farm renewable natural gas (RNG) project in Amelia Court House, Virginia, with its joint venture partner Vanguard Renewables, a portfolio company of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock.

The Oakmulgee Dairy Farm will produce more than 259,000 million British thermal units per year (MMBtu/y) of renewable gas through an anaerobic digester and divert more than 105,000 tons of food and beverage waste per year from landfill or incineration. The RNG produced at Oakmulgee will fuel AstraZeneca's Maryland biopharmaceutical production facilities. 

TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables, a U.S. leader in farm-based organics-to-renewables natural gas production, announced in April 2024 the creation of a 50-50 percent joint venture to develop, build and operate RNG projects across the United States. The partners are currently advancing 10 projects into construction with a total annual RNG capacity of 0.8 TWh (2.5 Bcf or 2,500,000 MMBtu). Beyond these first 10 projects, the two companies will consider investing in a potential pipeline of about 60 projects across the country.

"We are excited to see the Oakmulgee Dairy Farm project break ground, which materializes the ambition TotalEnergies has with our market-leading partner Vanguard Renewables to accelerate the development of food biowaste processing into renewable natural gas in the United States," said Marc de Lataillade, Vice President, Biogas at TotalEnergies. "This project in Virginia, and two others currently under construction in Wisconsin and Minnesota, are part of a promising potential pipeline of projects that will support TotalEnergies' ambition to be a leader in the fast-growing renewable gas market."

"We are thrilled to partner with the Moyer Family who are truly building the farm of the future, to bring this transformative technology to life," said Neil H. Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Vanguard Renewables. "By converting inedible and unsalable food and beverage waste and dairy cow manure into renewable gas, we are not only reducing greenhouse gas emissions and repurposing methane for good, but also creating a sustainable energy source that benefits both the environment and local communities."

TotalEnergies in the United States
Operating in the United States since 1957, TotalEnergies is present across the entire U.S. energy value chain from exploration and production, renewables, refining and petrochemicals to trading and marketing activities. With a business footprint across 35 states and half of our institutional investors based in this country, the U.S is a key market for TotalEnergies to deploy our multi-energy strategy focused on delivering low cost, low emission hydrocarbons and providing integrated power solutions to offer clean firm energy to U.S. customers.

TotalEnergies and Biogas
TotalEnergies is a leading company in the European biogas segment with production capacity of 1.1 TWh. The Company aims to become a major player in this segment across several key markets, particularly in Europe and the United States by joining forces with leading partners such as Clean Energy and Vanguard Renewables. It is active across the entire value chain, from project development to marketing of this renewable gas and its byproducts, including biofertilizers and bioCO2.