OPAL Fuels, NextEra Energy Marketing, and Republic Services Begin Operations at Minnesota’s First Landfill Gas to Renewable Natural Gas Facility

Project in Inver Grove Heights expected to produce 6.3 million gasoline gallon equivalent per year of low-carbon renewable natural gas

October 25, 2022 09:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OPAL Fuels Inc. (Nasdaq: OPAL), a leading vertically integrated producer and distributor of renewable natural gas (RNG), and NextEra Energy Marketing, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, today announced the commencement of commercial operations at the first landfill renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility in Minnesota. The Pine Bend RNG Project is located at a landfill owned by Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG), a leader in the environmental services industry, and interconnected with a pipeline owned by Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL), the leading electric and gas utility in the region.

The new, state-of-the-art RNG facility captures naturally occurring biogas, made up in part by methane, from Pine Bend Landfill and transforms it into RNG. Methane is a natural byproduct of a variety of sources and is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). RNG is the right now solution to the right now problem of climate change and is one of the most attractive sources of renewable energy.

This project replaces a landfill gas-to-electricity project, which has now been decommissioned. At full capacity, the facility is expected to process an estimated 3,350 SCFM of landfill gas resulting in the production of 6.3 million gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) per year of RNG. The low-carbon gas is then injected into Xcel Energy’s gas pipeline. This RNG, when used as transportation fuel rather than diesel, will avoid GHG emissions equivalent to achieving zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions from approximately 484 heavy-duty trucks per year.

“The Pine Bend RNG project further demonstrates the continued execution of the OPAL Fuels growth strategy,” said Jonathan Maurer, Co-CEO of OPAL Fuels. “With an extensive track record of delivering value from waste-to-energy, we currently manage a broad portfolio of RNG facilities, including six currently in operation, with six more in construction. We are pleased to work with best-in-class partners to make this first-of-its-kind project in Minnesota a reality.”

“We're pleased that the Pine Bend RNG facility is operational,” said Rebecca Kujawa, President and Chief Executive Officer of NextEra Energy Resources. “This facility is consistent with our belief that a substantial reduction of carbon emissions in the electricity, industrial, and transportation sectors is possible, which represents a significant investment opportunity in the coming decades.”

“At Republic Services, we’re putting sustainability in action through innovative partnerships including this project with OPAL Fuels and NextEra Energy Resources,” said Matt Healy, Republic Services Midwest Area President. “By utilizing a natural renewable byproduct of the landfill, we can produce a low-carbon transportation fuel that helps Minnesota and our local community achieve their climate action goals.”

“As the first U.S. energy provider to announce a comprehensive vision with aggressive goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all the ways our customers use energy, our collaboration with OPAL Fuels is helping build the market for renewable natural gas,” said Chris Clark, President, Xcel Energy-Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. “We’re working to expand clean energy sources to benefit our customers and communities and renewable natural gas and projects such as Pine Bend play an important role in our net-zero emissions strategy for our natural gas business.”

About OPAL Fuels Inc.

OPAL Fuels Inc. (Nasdaq: OPAL) is a leading vertically integrated renewable fuels platform involved in the production and distribution of renewable natural gas (RNG) for the heavy-duty truck market. RNG is a proven low-carbon fuel that is rapidly decarbonizing the transportation industry now while also significantly reducing fuel costs for fleet owners. OPAL Fuels captures harmful methane emissions at the source and recycles the trapped energy into a commercially viable, lower-cost alternative to diesel fuel. The company also develops, constructs, and services RNG and hydrogen fueling stations. As a producer and distributor of carbon-reducing fuel for heavy-duty truck fleets for more than a decade, OPAL Fuels delivers complete renewable solutions to customers and production partners. To learn more about OPAL Fuels and how it is leading the effort to capture North America’s harmful methane emissions and decarbonize the transportation industry, please visit www.opalfuels.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter at @OPALFuels.

About NextEra Resources, LLC

NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (together with its affiliated entities, “NextEra Energy Resources”) is a clean energy leader and is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with approximately 24,600 megawatts of total net generating capacity, primarily in 38 states and Canada as of year-end 2021. NextEra Energy Resources, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun based on 2021 megawatt hours produced on a net generation basis, and a world leader in battery storage. The business operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). For more information, visit www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.

About Republic Services

Republic Services, Inc. is a leader in the environmental services industry. Through its subsidiaries, the Company provides customers with the most complete set of products and services, including recycling, solid waste, special waste, hazardous waste, container rental and field services. Republic’s industry-leading commitments to advance circularity, reduce emissions and decarbonize operations are helping deliver on its vision to partner with customers to create a more sustainable world. For more information, please visit RepublicServices.com.

About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements
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