The American Biogas Council (ABC) has released new data showing that 2024 was yet another record year for the industry. In the 12 months ending in December, 125 new biogas projects came online, representing over US$3 billion in new American investments. New projects in 2024 exceeded new projects in 2023 by 17 percent, while total investment in those projects increased by 40 percent compared to investment in projects opened in the previous year.
Biogas projects convert manure, wastewater, food waste, and captured landfill gas (LFG) into renewable natural gas (RNG), renewable electricity, heat, and natural fertilizer. Overall, these sectors of the industry produced over 10 percent more biogas in 2024 than in any prior year.
Last year’s new projects bring the total number of biogas facilities in the United States to nearly 2,500. These facilities produce nearly 1.4 million standard cubic feet per minute (scfm) of biogas, a reliable source of dispatchable renewable energy.
According to the American Biogas Council (ABC), this ongoing flow of energy can produce the equivalent of 15,000 football fields of solar panels, or enough electricity to power 2.4 million average homes for a year, or the fuel equivalent of eliminating 2.6 million gasoline cars from the road.
Biogas has a carbon intensity of 50 percent to 700 percent less than fossil fuels because biogas projects capture methane emissions that would otherwise be emitted and then use those emissions to displace more emissions from fossil fuels and chemical fertilizers.
The biogas industry keeps hitting new growth records every year because, as an energy source, biogas just makes sense. It provides much-needed clean electricity, cuts pollution and emissions from transportation, and provides heat-producing fuel for industries, all while managing millions of tonnes of waste from farms and cities alike. In a time when demand for domestic energy is increasing significantly, fertilizer markets are constrained by the Ukraine conflict, and America is striving for energy and industrial dominance, the value of 24/7/365 energy and locally produced, natural fertilizer from biogas projects is undeniable, said Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of ABC.
LFG projects continue to produce the most and use it for power
Landfill gas (LFG) projects, which capture the biogas produced as organic material decomposes in landfills, yield the lion’s share of biogas in the US—72 percent of total biogas output—despite comprising fewer facilities than the wastewater and agriculture sectors.
The American biogas industry added 24 new LFG projects in 2024, bringing the total number of LFG facilities to 580, an increase of 4.3 percent overall.
The new projects represent US$1.4 billion investment, or 47 percent of the total capital biogas developers invested in 2024 projects.
The added projects grew the LFG sector’s output by more than 12 percent in 2024, increasing to about 980,000 scfm.
In recent years, new LFG projects have been more likely to upgrade their biogas to biomethane aka renewable natural gas (RNG), but 77 percent of projects overall produce electricity.
Lots more agriculture projects
While LFG production saw a big jump in 2024, the agriculture sector created nearly four times the number of new projects—93 farm projects compared to 24 landfill projects—and the total number of farm biogas projects surpassed the total landfill gas projects for the first time.
The new farm-based projects represent US$1.37 million in capital investment (mostly in rural communities) and 24 percent more projects than came online in 2023.
Overall, biogas projects in the agriculture sector grew by almost 18 percent, from 522 to 615 total projects with new agriculture projects contributing 21,000 scfm of additional biogas output.
Also new for 2024, more hog farms came online than in previous years, adding 29 facilities, or 31 percent of all new farm projects.
More than ever, farmers nationwide are finding more efficient ways to utilize the manure their animals produce.
In terms of end-use for their biogas, 95 percent of new biogas projects that went live in 2024 use their biogas to make RNG.
RNG projects on farms now surpass biogas-to-electricity projects in the sector by about 3 to 2.
Wastewater treatment evolving, food waste sector building for future
The wastewater sector didn’t see the same aggressive growth in 2024 but still holds the crown for most biogas facilities—47 percent of all systems—and the most longevity.
The oldest operational biogas systems in the country were built in the 1920s at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that used anaerobic digestion (AD) to reduce the volume of sludge they must handle while cleaning sewer water.
Food waste-only systems are the least numerous, likely because they’re the most complex, but still added three new projects in 2024, bringing the total to 114.
While standalone food waste facilities bring up the rear in project counts, about 200 agriculture and wastewater biogas facilities across the country take in food waste and anaerobically digest it along with manure or wastewater biosolids.
The food waste sector is poised for stronger growth in 2025, with 16 projects currently under construction.
RNG continues to grow, but most biogas is still used to make renewable electricity
Of the 125 new biogas projects that came online in 2024, 119 (95 percent) were built to upgrade their biogas to RNG.
This dominance of RNG in new projects has existed since about 2018, spurred by California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program and the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which reward renewable fuel producers who reduce transportation emissions and air pollution.
However, while RNG is the growth sector, electricity still dominates the industry. More than 77 percent of biogas projects and 60 percent of total biogas output go to make renewable power.
State-level growth
Biogas projects operate in every US state; organic waste is where the people and animals are and every state has organic waste that needs to be recycled.
With the growth in agriculture projects in 2023 and 2024, many agriculture-heavy states have attracted the most local investments. The location of yet-untapped landfills also drives the location of capital invested.
Last year, California (CA), Illinois (IL), South Dakota (SD), Pennsylvania (PA), and Virginia (VA) saw the most dollars invested, based on projects that came online.
In 2023, the five states that saw the most CAPEX come online were Michigan (MI), Indiana (IN), Virginia (VA), Ohio (OH), and Texas (TX).
An untapped business opportunity
Americans send more than 1.4 billion tonnes of manure, 33 million tonnes of inedible food waste, and one million tonnes of wastewater biosolids (sludge) to landfills annually.
In addition, 470 landfills currently flare gas that could be captured. The ABC estimates that more than 20,000 additional American biogas projects could be built to convert this waste into valuable energy and more nutritious food while creating good jobs.
These new biogas systems hold the potential to produce up to 20 GW of always-available electricity. They would also create about 740,000 short-term construction jobs and 25,000 permanent operations jobs, plus inestimable supply chain jobs.
The ABC proposes that biogas development is an opportunity to use waste to drive economic growth and productivity.
Furthermore, the development of the American biogas industry will capture methane emissions, provide home-grown nonchemical fertilizers that improve crop yields and food nutrition, reduce the need for landfills, create good-paying jobs, and produce domestic energy available around the clock.
