Clean Energy Fuels Corp. announced the successful completion and operational launch of its latest renewable natural gas (RNG) production facility at Tri-Cross Dairy in Viborg, South Dakota.

The new RNG facility sits on a 5,000-cow dairy farm and is forecasted to produce 1 million gallons annually of negative carbon-intensity RNG. The project represents a significant milestone in Clean Energy’s ongoing leadership in providing the cleanest fuel for the transportation market at the company’s network of fueling stations across North America.

The construction costs of the RNG production facility, which includes the build of digesters and processing plant, totaled $34 million and was completed in December 2023. The injecting of pipeline quality RNG began shortly after completion. Clean Energy is in process of filing the necessary applications to generate federal and state environmental credits.

“We anticipate 2024 to be a pivotal year in the demand for RNG fuel in the transportation market with the introduction of Cummins’ X15N natural gas engine for heavy-duty trucks. Clean Energy’s fueling infrastructure is expanding to meet that demand and we’ll need a constant source of additional low-carbon RNG to supply those stations. The new production facilities at Tri-Cross Dairy and the other farms in the Midwest that are now producing RNG is a critical component to our strategy,” said Clay Corbus, senior vice president for renewables.

Financing for the Tri-Cross Dairy project is backed by one of Clean Energy’s RNG production joint ventures and developed by Dynamic Renewables. The facility is one in a series of projects in the Midwest for which the companies have partnered together.

Agriculture accounts for nearly 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Capturing methane from farm waste can lower these emissions. RNG is a transportation fuel made entirely from organic waste and drastically reduces GHG emissions by an average of 300% versus diesel. It is so clean that the California Air Resources Board gives RNG from dairy farms an average carbon-intensity score of -330, which is substantially lower than electric vehicles charging with electricity on today’s grid.