bp-owned company and largest RNG producer in the US — Archaea Energy — has commenced production at its original Archaea Modular Design (AMD) renewable natural gas (RNG) plant in Medora, Indiana.
This is the first plant to come online since bp’s acquisition of Archaea Energy in December 2022 and it is also located next to a landfill owned by Rumpke Waste.
Landfill gas, a natural byproduct of the decomposition of waste in landfills, is a form of greenhouse gas.
Using the AMD design, the Medora plant captures the gas from Rumpke’s landfill and converts it to electricity, heat or renewable natural gas, which leads to cleaner air, less odour and more sustainable energy when compared with traditional fossil fuel energy.
The Medora plant can process 3,200 cubic feet of landfill gas per minute (scfm) into RNG – enough gas to heat around 13,026 homes annually, according to the EPA’s Landfill Gas Energy Benefits Calculator.
Archaea Energy CEO Starlee Sykes said: “What we are doing at the Medora plant is phenomenal and it’s just the beginning of what’s to come at Archaea. This is a powerful step forward in our net zero journey to capture landfill emissions and provide customers with lower emission, lower carbon fuel. Our goal is to safely bring several AMD plants online this year. I’m in awe of our team who designed, engineered and built this facility and we can’t wait to bring more online across the US.”
Traditionally, RNG plants have been custom built, but the Archaea Modular Design allows plants to be built on skids with interchangeable components.
Using a standardised modular design leads to faster builds than previous industry standards.
Rumpke Waste & Recycling Area President Jeff Rumpke said: “Our family company is constantly looking for technologies to lessen our overall impact and further our efforts to protect and preserve the environment. The addition of Archaea Energy’s RNG plant at our site will help further reduce emissions and give residents and businesses assurance that their waste is not only being properly disposed of – but also being put to good use.”
With the acquisition of Archaea, bp is now the largest RNG producer in the US, enhancing its ability to support customers’ decarbonization goals and progressing its aim to reduce the average lifecycle carbon intensity of the energy products it sells.
Bioenergy is one of five strategic transition growth engines that bp intends to grow rapidly through this decade expecting to deliver around $2 billion EBITDA in 2025 and aiming to deliver more than $4 billion in 2030.
In addition to bioenergy, bp’s transition growth engines include convenience, EV charging, renewables & power, and hydrogen.
bp expects to invest up to $8 billion more in its transition growth businesses this decade to reach more than 40 per cent of its total annual capital expenditure by 2025, aiming to grow this to around 50 per cent by 2030.
