Renewable Natural Gas Procurement
We are focused on becoming the cleanest gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to our customers. RNG will play a critical role in helping us achieve these goals.
Senate Bill 1440 Background Information
On February 25, 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission issued Decision 22-02-025 to implement Senate Bill 1440, defining two collective biomethane procurement targets for the California investor-owned natural-gas utilities1 (IOUs):
- A short-term target for procuring biomethane, totaling 17.6 billion cubic feet (BCF) annually by 2025, produced from 8 million tons of organic waste diverted from landfills. This target was set to support the organic waste diversion targets established previously in Senate Bill 1383. With this target, each IOU may only procure biomethane produced from diverted organic waste from landfills, including wood waste, at a level in accordance with its proportionate share of statewide Cap-and-Trade allowances.
- A medium-term target for procuring biomethane in an amount equal to approximately 12.2% (or 72.8 BCF) of each IOU's annual bundled core customer natural gas demand (excluding NGVs) by 2030 and beyond, as forecasted in the 2020 California Gas Report. This target, referred to as California's Renewable Gas Standard (RGS), was established in accordance with California Public Utilities Code section 650 et. seq. Under this target, each IOU may procure biomethane produced not only from landfill organic waste, but also from other feedstocks, including those from landfills, wastewater treatment plants, synthetic gas, and dairies2.
For more information, please see Decision 22-02-025 and the 2020 California Gas Report.
SB 1440 Biomethane Procurement Request for Offers
View a general overview of the RFO process as well as the documents and schedule applicable to the RFO.
RNG at Vehicle Fueling Stations Background Information
The RNG Pilot program was approved via CPUC Advice Letter 5295 in July 2018. Subsequently, in April 2019, SoCalGas began replacing traditional compressed natural gas at fueling stations with RNG to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet California's climate goals. RNG is produced by capturing methane emissions from organic waste materials. Depending on the source of organic waste, RNG can be carbon negative because it captures more greenhouse gases than it emits. Since September 2020, the RNG delivered at the 38 fueling stations is considered carbon negative by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
RNG delivered at the 38 fueling stations helped avoid approximately one million metric tons of CO2 emissions over the last six years – equivalent to eliminating nearly 113 million gallons of gasoline burned, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
RNG at Vehicle Fueling Stations Procurement Request for Offers
View a general overview of the RFO process as well as the documents and schedule applicable to the RFO.
Procurement Advisory Group
In February 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission issued Decision 22-02-025, which implemented Senate Bill 1440 and established biomethane procurement targets for years 2025 and 2030 to be met by the California investor-owned natural-gas utilities, specifically Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Gas Company, and Southwest Gas Corporation (IOUs). Decision 22-02-025 authorized each IOU to establish a separate biomethane Procurement Advisory Group ("PAG") to advise the IOUs on solicitations for biomethane program.
For questions regarding SoCalGas's PAG or if interested in joining the PAG, please contact ProcurementAdvisoryGroup@socalgas.com
Meet the RNG Procurement Team
Elsa Valay-Paz
Vice President of Gas Acquisition
Ray Sasaki
Director of Gas Acquisition
Alan Haven
Energy and Carbon Trading Manager
Stella Talverdi
Contract & Policy Manager
Justin Iadanza
Senior Origination & Carbon Trading Portfolio Advisor
1The four investor-owned natural-gas utilities are Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Gas Company, and Southwest Gas Corporation. 2With respect to dairy biomethane, the IOUs may only procure from dairy facilities that commenced operation after December 31, 2021, limited to no more than four percent of the IOUs' medium-term procurement obligation. See Decision 22-02-025.