Renewable natural gas (RNG)

Transforming organic matter like table scraps into energy: a concrete solution in the fight against climate change. This renewable natural gas produced locally can be added to the gas network or used directly to heat buildings or as a fuel. It’s one big step closer to energy independence.

Saint-Hyacinthe was the first city in Québec to produce energy through biomethanation and move one step closer to energy independence. Implemented in partnership with Énergir, this initiative will heat municipal buildings and fuel city vehicles while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This project will, in time, lead to an annual reduction of 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas. It’s a great example of a community repurposing waste to produce renewable energy.

Coop Agri-Énergie Warwick is the first agricultural cooperative dedicated to the production of renewable energy in Québec. It brings together roughly ten agricultural producers from the Arthabaska RCM who will produce renewable natural gas (RNG) from slurry and manure from dairy cattle mixed with residual organic matter from surrounding businesses. The biomethanation complex will be developed, built and operated by Coop Carbone, a non-profit solidarity cooperative working on the development of cooperative agricultural biomethanization projects. The start of operations is already planned for autumn 2020.

• Using this volume of RNG in the gas network by 2030 would eliminate 7.2 million tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions each year. That’s roughly like taking 1.5 million cars off the road.¹
• GHG reductions could be even greater if RNG were to replace diesel fuel in heavy transport, since the latter accounts for 12.1% of total GHGs in Québec.²
• All regions of Québec will have technical and economic potential for RNG production by 2030.
• By 2030, RNG’s technical and economic potential increases because of second‑generation technologies that use forest residues in production.

¹ US EPA, Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
² Inventaire québécois des émissions de gaz à effet de serre en 2015 et leur évolution depuis 1990, MDDELCC [Inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Québec in 2015, and emission trends since 1990.]