REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
January 11, 2018
FROM: THOMAS C. ESQUEDA, Director
Department of Public Utilities
SUBJECT
Title
Actions related to a Biomethane Purchase and Sale Agreement with Colony Energy Partners, LLC.:
1. Adopt a finding of Class 1/Existing Facilities Categorical Exemption pursuant to Section 15301of the California Environmental Quality Act.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute a Biomethane Purchase and Sale Agreement with Colony Energy Partners, LLC.
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council 1) adopt a finding of Class 1/Existing Facilities Categorical Exemption pursuant to Section 15301 of the California Environmental Quality Act; and 2) approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute an agreement with Colony Energy Partners, LLC, to convert the City's Digester Gas to Biomethane, which can then be sold as a Renewable Natural Gas and Regulatory Credits.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Fresno (City)'s Fresno-Clovis Regional Water Reclamation Facility (RWRF) is currently flaring approximately 1,200,000 standard cubic feet per day of methane-containing Digester Gas (equal to approximately 260,000 MMBtu per year). Colony Energy Partners, LLC. will convert the Digester Gas to a Biomethane product, and sell both the Biomethane and Regulatory Credits to third parties. The City will receive a percentage of the sales.
BACKGROUND
The RWRF utilizes a low- solids anaerobic digestion (AD) process to stabilize combined primary and secondary sludge prior to beneficial use of the fully-digested sludge. In addition to municipal sludge, the City also processes third-party anaerobically digestible material (ADM) in the anaerobic digestion process. The third-party sources of ADM include fats, oils, and grease (FOG) delivered from grease trap cleaning companies, as well as food processing wastes received from food processing companies located in the San Joaquin Valley. According to the California Association of Sanitation...
Click here for full text