Anew Climate starts first California biomethane deliveries under SB 1440

Anew Climate began delivering renewable natural gas from Anaergia’s SoCal Biomethane facility into Southwest Gas Corporation’s California distribution system, marking the first operational gas flow under California’s biomethane procurement program. The delivery turns SB 1440 from a compliance framework into molecules in the pipe, a key test for whether utility procurement can scale beyond paper targets and conditional approvals.

The California Public Utilities Commission created the program in a Feb. 24, 2022 decision implementing SB 1440, which authorizes the commission to set biomethane procurement targets for regulated gas utilities. The commission later conditionally approved the Southwest Gas contract on March 19, 2026, clearing the project for service once remaining conditions were met. Under the program, the CPUC set a 2025 target of 17.6 billion cubic feet of biomethane, tied to 8 million tons of organic waste diverted from landfills each year, and a 2030 target of 72.8 billion cubic feet annually, about 12% of current residential and small business gas usage.

The SoCal Biomethane facility sits at the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority in Victorville, California, where it co-digests municipal wastewater solids and diverted organic waste from across Southern California before upgrading the biogas to pipeline-quality RNG. The facility can accept up to 104,000 tons of diverted organic waste a year and is expected to cut emissions by as much as 31,710 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, roughly the same as taking about 7,400 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road.

Anew Climate president of low carbon fuels Andy Brosnan said the project shows the coordination needed across industry and regulators to bring RNG online and could inform future development in California and other regions pursuing methane reduction and grid reliability. Anaergia chief operating officer Dr. Yaniv Scherson said the milestone shows organic waste can be turned into a reliable renewable fuel at scale, while Southwest Gas president and chief executive Justin Brown said the agreement is an important step in integrating RNG into the utility’s supply portfolio while maintaining safe and reliable service through existing infrastructure.

The first delivery gives SB 1440 a concrete operating reference point as California tries to build a larger biomethane market around landfill-diverted organics, utility demand and pipeline access. North Sky Capital said the policy could scale procurement to the equivalent of about 55 SoCal Biomethane-sized facilities by 2035, underscoring the gap between today’s single-project milestone and the volume needed to meet the state’s longer-term gas decarbonization goals.