Fueling Our Future

In 2016, Reed McKee, Director of Transmission, Distribution, Business Development and Strategic Support at NorthWestern Energy, began to explore growth and development opportunities for the company.

“My thinking at the time was, there's so much going on with renewables in the electric industry,” Reed said. “Why isn't there more going on the gas side? Or is there an opportunity?”

Reed began to look into renewable natural gas (RNG) as an opportunity to bring green energy to the gas side of the business.

RNG is a pipeline-quality gas derived from biomass or other renewable sources, such as farms or wastewater treatment facilities.

Reed has worked to build relationships with multiple RNG developers in South Dakota. Today developers mainly focus on dairy farmers, utilizing animal waste (manure) to produce RNG. The developer builds and owns the digester, extracting methane from manure, while NorthWestern builds and provides an interconnection to our natural gas system.

Renewable natural gas from the Mill Valley RNG facility ties into our system at Milbank, SD.

“NorthWestern Energy was one of the first energy companies in South Dakota to sign an agreement and be a part of this process,” Reed said.

RNG is a critical part of achieving our goal of having net zero methane emissions. In most cases, renewable natural gas sources — farms or wastewater treatment facilities — emit methane into the atmosphere. Methane that would otherwise be emitted is captured, conditioned for quality and used in the natural gas system. Due to this capture process, RNG is usually a carbon-negative fuel and will help compensate for any remaining unavoidable emissions on our natural gas system.

The digesting tanks, where methane is captured, are under consturction.

“I compare this opportunity for NorthWestern to the ethanol industry development in South Dakota in the late ‘90s and early 2000s,” Reed said. “When that opportunity presented itself, NorthWestern recognized the renewable development opportunity and business growth opportunity, and today we serve 13 ethanol plants.”

Digesting tanks turn manure into biogas.

As of November 2022, NorthWestern has three RNG interconnect projects at various stages of construction, with a projection of receiving renewable gas into the system as soon as the first quarter of 2023. These three projects will inject an estimated 1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) annually. They are just the start of a rapidly growing opportunity. NorthWestern continues to work with developers with an additional opportunity of 1 to 2 Bcf annually by late 2023 or early 2024. RNG is likely a significant offset opportunity we will be able to use to ultimately reach our Net Zero by 2050 goal.

RNG allows us to create natural gas from a process that occurs naturally in agriculture rather than drilling for it. It also allows us to inject gas into our system in strategic locations based on reliability and growth areas.

A sandtrap is used to filter sand from the manure.

By participating and investing in this sustainable resource, NorthWestern Energy is contributing to the growth of the RNG industry. Our investment provides sectors such as agriculture and transportation with innovative opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Our partnership with RNG developers will support our mission of being a good steward of the environment while also meeting customers' needs for reliable and affordable service. Through these partnerships, we're taking another step in meeting our energy needs, as well as bringing added economic and environmental benefits to NorthWestern's service territory.

Article by Alissa Byrd