Work begins on organics-to-renewable gas facility in Amelia County

Vanguard Renewables, an organics-to-renewable natural gas company with headquarters in Massachusetts, broke ground Wednesday on its newest facility at Oakmulgee Dairy Farm in Amelia County. 

An anaerobic digester system on the property will allow Vanguard Renewables to convert cow manure along with inedible and unsalable food material into natural gas. The company expects Oakmulgee Dairy Farm will produce more than 259,000 metric million British thermal units (mmBtu) of renewable gas each year. 

Billy Kepner, a Vanguard Renewables spokesperson, declined to provide the estimated cost of constructing the facility, which will create about 200 jobs during construction and 12 full-time positions once it’s completed. The facility is expected to be operational in 12 months, he noted.

Oakmulgee Dairy Farm currently has more than 300 Holstein cows, according to Jeremy Moyer, a fifth-generation dairy farmer who operates Oakmulgee with his father and brother.

“We’ve been here since 1895,” Moyer told the crowd Wednesday. “We’ve been shipping Grade A milk since the 1920s. We’re the oldest continuously operating dairy in the state of Virginia.”

Vanguard Renewables currently has seven operational facilities, three under construction (including this one in Amelia County) and has plans to begin construction on multiple additional sites by the end of the year. 

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, told event attendees that the United States is in “a self-inflicted energy crisis.”

“Right now we have a federal government that is at war against affordable, reliable energy,” said the Republican congressman, adding that the groundbreaking for the Vanguard Renewables facility is exciting because “it represents another way to steward the resources that God has given to Virginia, to Amelia County and to America.”

Neil H. Smith, CEO of Vanguard Renewables, noted 1,600 dairy farms closed in 2023. “It’s projects like these that partner with dairy farms that make them be able to continue into the future,” he said.

Vanguard Renewables provides its farm partners with a dedicated income stream from a 20-year-plus land lease, according to a news release distributed Wednesday afternoon. Additionally, the farms benefit from the byproducts of the anaerobic digestion process, which are used as biofertilizer and herd bedding. 

Larkin Moyer, Jeremy’s father, noted in the release that Oakmulgee also boasts a ground mount solar array that powers the farm, including its robotic milkers and heading and cooling barns. “We have embraced innovation as key to preserving our family farm,” he said in a statement.

The gas produced at Oakmulgee Dairy Farm will fuel the Maryland biopharmaceutical production facilities for AstraZeneca. The British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company has announced a goal of having all U.S. research and manufacturing sites using renewable natural gas by 2026.

“We’re committed to a deep decarbonization across our supply and value chain,” Dan Wygal, vice president of U.S. corporate and government affairs for AztraZeneca, said Wednesday. “Our innovative partnership with Vanguard Renewables in the U.S. is an illustration of this commitment. We are focusing on delivering our medicines with hard science-based targets and reduction of emissions, ensuring that we can meet the needs of patients, while looking after the health of the planet.

The Amelia County organics-to-renewable-gas facility will be built and operated by Vanguard Renewables. It is part of a joint venture between Vanguard and TotalEnergies, a global integrated energy company based in France, that was announced in April. The two companies agreed to advance 10 renewable natural gas projects into construction by April 2025. 

“This project in Virginia, and two others currently under construction in Wisconsin and Minnesota, are part of a promising potential pipeline of projects that will support TotalEnergies’ ambition to be a leader in the fast-growing renewable gas market,” said Marc de Lataillade, vice president of Biogas at TotalEnergies. 

Vanguard Renewables is a portfolio company of Global Infrastructure Partners, a New York-based infrastructure fund manager, which is a part of BlackRock, a global asset manager in New York.

In August, Vanguard Renewables announced Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery in Madison County would become the first vineyard in Virginia to partner with the company. Vanguard will help the winery establish a custom organics materials recycling program, with the waste being converted into renewable natural gas and a low carbon biofertilizer.