HOUSTON, TEXAS (Lukas von Koch, Energy Analytics Institute, 18.Mar.2025) — Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) executed a contract with Organic Energy Solutions (OES) to procure renewable natural gas (RNG) converted from organic waste and inject it into SoCalGas’ pipeline system.
The contract is the first approved by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) under Senate Bill (SB) 1440 which sets specific RNG procurement targets for the state’s natural gas utilities. The RNG will be sourced from a project located in the city of San Bernardino and is an important step toward achieving California’s goal to reduce methane emissions from agriculture and waste while advancing energy decarbonization in the state, SoCalGas announced on 18 Mar. 2025 in an official statement.
SB 1440 is recognized as the nation’s first renewable gas standard and led the CPUC to set goals for the procurement of RNG, also known as biomethane, which is made from the organic waste of wastewater treatment plants, dairies, landfills, agricultural practices and forestry residues. Depending on its source, RNG can be carbon negative, meaning it captures more greenhouse gases than it emits.
SoCalGas aims to replace approximately 12% of the traditional natural gas it delivers to residential and small business customers with RNG by 2030, pursuant to the targets that have been established under SB 1440 by the CPUC. The new RNG standard is expected to help the state achieve its goal to reduce methane emissions by 40% by 2030.
OES, a company specializing in biomass processing and fuel production, will collect organic waste – a source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) – from local industrial and food waste, and process it in an anaerobic digester which speeds up natural decomposition. Methane emissions from the decomposition process are captured and converted into RNG, which will then be injected into the SoCalGas pipeline system. The project is expected to begin supplying RNG to SoCalGas’ system in the second-half 2026. Organic waste in landfills contributes to approximately 20% of California’s methane emissions. Once operational, OES estimates the project will prevent approximately 15,300 tons of GHGs from entering the atmosphere each year, which is the equivalent to the energy usage of 2,984 homes per year or 1.7 million gallons of consumed gasoline.
RNG is already helping reduce emissions from trucks and buses, contributing to cleaner air. In 2019, SoCalGas began replacing traditional compressed natural gas with RNG at its fueling stations to help reduce GHGs. Since 2020, the RNG supplied at SoCalGas’ 37 fueling stations has been classified as carbon negative by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). SoCalGas continues to advance its efforts to decarbonize the fuel it transports, delivering approximately 5% RNG to customers since 2023.
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By Lukas von Koch reporting from Houston. © 2025 Energy Analytics Institute (EAI). All Rights Reserved.
