EnTech Solutions, a clean-energy solutions provider, Peterbilt Motors Company, a division of PACCAR, and Maki Trucking, LLC, a regional transportation firm, are partnering to further the sustainability efforts of the Middleton digester renewable natural gas (RNG) facility by incorporating an electric vehicle (EV) tanker truck to transport the facility’s RNG fuel.

The Peterbilt Model 579EV will deliver the RNG to the Dane County landfill facility, where it will be injected into the natural gas pipeline to be used as clean transportation fuel on the west coast. US Gain, a division of Wisconsin-based US Venture, Inc., offtakes the RNG for distribution to the transportation market in California.

Electric vehicle transportation is the next step in the Middleton digester’s clean energy endeavors. Maki Trucking is adding the Peterbilt 579EV to its fleet to support the 44-mile round trip Middleton RNG transport route, with the ability to haul two to three loads per day. Clean power to the vehicle will be supplied by EnTech Solutions’ distributed energy microgrid at the Middleton site, with a PACCAR ChargeMax 120. Preliminary modeling indicates that implementation of electric vehicle transportation of the RNG will reduce up to 116 tons of CO₂ emissions annually.

The biodigester facility converts agricultural waste from four regional dairy farms into RNG, eliminating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions normally released by the dairy manure. The site is powered by a distributed energy microgrid that utilizes solar power and battery energy storage to produce more than 2.8 megawatts (MW) of clean energy annually, enough to power more than 400 homes. The addition of EV transportation of the fuel further reduces the RNG’s carbon intensity (CI) score.