SoCalGas and international utilities are collaborating to lower carbon emissions
LOS ANGELES—Southern California Gas Company recently announced a joint partnership with Canadian natural gas utility Énergir and French utilities GRDF and GRTgaz. The four companies are planning to work together to focus on research, public policy strategies and outreach/education to advance the development of renewable natural gas and new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies.
“We are excited to collaborate with our French and Canadian counterparts to speed up the development of the next generation of innovations, including renewable natural gas, solar-powered hydrogen generation, fuel cells, power-to-gas and other technologies,” said Sharon Tomkins, vice president of customer solutions and strategy for SoCalGas. “Together, the work we’re doing today will help provide reliable and affordable natural gas service to millions of families and businesses for decades to come.”
While it may be unusual for utilities representing three different countries—with diverse political and social climates—to align themselves, Yuri Freedman, SoCalGas’ senior director of business development, told American Gas that, despite their differences, all of these utilities share a common goal. “They vary quite a bit in power and gas supply and their overall energy mix. But they’re united in their intense push to lower the carbon footprint. That’s underpinning our cooperation.
“For now, I don’t expect any single company or country to take the lead in any one area,” he continued. “All of us have quite a bit to share in terms of R&D, policy and communication. We look to tap into each other’s experience in those areas. Of course, although we’re all pushing in the same direction, there are a lot of different nuances happening. We’re looking forward to learning how each party deals with that to determine the best path going forward. If we’re going to rapidly decarbonize the energy mix, there will be challenges. We’re seeing what we can bring to help address this problem.”
As part of this collaboration, information and research results will be shared among the utilities. The goal is to learn from the potential successes and challenges of new projects and further build on biomethanation and power-to-gas technologies. Over the next year, representatives from each utility will continue to meet and discuss these topics, striving for continued development and distribution of RNG and the advancement of climate goals.
“I think we all are in the areas that lead the world, frankly, in moving toward decarbonizing,” Freeman said. “Of course, the transition will inevitably have some friction. But I’m excited that we’re able to offer our efforts and expertise in sharing information. Everyone is trying to be [a] solution. It is a global problem; we need to offer a global solution. Our cooperation is a logical and important step in developing those solutions.”