It is the latest in a string of investments by major energy companies in biogas, which can replace traditional natural gas but is more costly to produce. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law in August, includes subsidies for equipment to capture climate-warming emissions at places like landfills and dairy farms and convert them into gas used to heat homes or fuel vehicles.
“This is historic for Enbridge because we see a huge opportunity for RNG from wasted food to be a key solution to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” Caitlin Tessin, Enbridge vice president of strategy and market innovation said in a statement.
Divert, a 16-year-old company based in West Concord Massachusetts, uses technology to help grocers minimize food waste and also operates digesters that process that waste into what is known as renewable natural gas (RNG).
Decomposing food produces around a tenth of the world’s climate-warming gases, according to the United Nations.
In addition to the $1 billion commitment from Enbridge to finance 30 sites it has selected for the digesters, Divert received an $80 million equity investment from the Calgary-based company and $20 million from investors led by Ara Partners.
“It’s time to rapidly scale across the country and put our solutions that we’ve proven into place in 30 markets,” Ryan Begin, chief executive of Divert, said in an interview. “This is accelerating all of those things.”
Divert plans to sell its RNG into a voluntary market of companies seeking to fulfill renewable energy and climate goals.
Late last year, Divert announced a $175 million deal to supply BP Plc (BP.L) with RNG from three U.S. facilities for 10 years.
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