Avista to purchase renewable natural gas from Illinois Quad Cities Landfill

Following a 2022 request for proposal aimed at securing renewable natural gas resources (RNG), Avista announced a new contract with Pine Creek RNG this week for the purchase of supplies from the Quad Cities Landfill in Milan, Ill.

“These RNG projects help Avista meet our aspirational goals to reduce natural gas emissions,” Jason Thackston, Avista’s chief strategy and clean energy officer, said. “Additionally, legislative changes have laid the groundwork for utilities, such as Avista, to enter the RNG market as developers, long-term buyers and long-term partners to help grow and mature the RNG market in North America.”

Avista Utilities has a service area that spans parts of Washington, Idaho and Oregon, and this contract marks its fourth offtake agreement with Pine Creek. While the Illinois project has yet to be finished, it should enter services by the end of 2024, at which point it’s expected to produce 3 million therms of RNG annually. That would bring the total contracted amount for Avista to approximately 9.7 million therms annually, or enough natural gas to cover about 17,500 homes.

RNG comes from organic waste streams such as landfills, wastewater treatment plants and food waste. It is produced when methane is captured and purified, ultimately creating a substance not unlike conventional natural gas. Were it not captured in such a way, that methane would otherwise be released naturally into the environment as its sources decomposed.

Therefore, Avista pitched the acquisition as another step toward reducing emissions.