Summit National Gas of Maine Inc. is developing a renewable natural gas digester that will convert dairy waste from several farms in Maine into RNG while also pioneering a power-to-gas project.
With a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the utility will co-locate a power-to-gas demonstration project at the digester that will combine captured carbon from the digester with green hydrogen derived from renewable electricity. The result will be pipeline-quality RNG that will go directly into a Summit pipeline. The farmers will also receive a valuable byproduct—high-quality animal bedding and a liquid fertilizer.
Summit’s power-to-gas demonstration project will likely be the first on-system, power-to-gas project of its kind in the country, the utility said. It is being done in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, SoCalGas, Plug Power and Electrochaea.
“By combining renewable hydrogen with recycled carbon, power-to-gas technology links our electric grid with our pipeline infrastructure and uses our existing pipeline system as a carrier for renewable energy,” Kurt Adams, president and CEO of Summit Utilities, told American Gas. “Linking these systems helps provide long-term energy storage and resiliency to customers, making it a critical piece of the puzzle as the nation and world pursue deep decarbonization.” —Carolyn Kimmel