Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 11/27/18



Smithfield Foods Inc. today announced a joint venture with Dominion Energy to develop a major methane-to-energy conversion project that also is expected to provide new revenues for hog farmers.

The new Align Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) project is designed to collect methane from hog farms and convert them into clean, renewable energy for residential home heating and power for local businesses, the two partners said in a news release. The venture initially is designed to leverage Smithfield’s relationship with hog farmers in North Carolina, Virginia and Utah and ultimately will help Smithfield reach its previously announced goal of reducing the company’s greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2025.

Smithfield and Dominion plan to invest $125 million each over the next decade to capture methane gas generated by hog lagoons and convert the emissions into RNG for use in Dominion’s pipelines. Methane is at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere through automobiles and industrial sources, and U.S. agricultural emissions account for an estimated 9 percent of the nation’s overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The partners also noted that hog farmers who participate in the program will be paid for the energy their farms produce through long-term contracts as one of their largest operational costs — managing hog farm waste — turns into a revenue stream. The lagoon covers that will help capture the methane also will protect the lagoons from storm-related damage like the flooding caused by Hurricane Florence in North Carolina in September, the partners said.

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