Privately held Fortistar LLC in partnership with Ares Capital Corp. on Tuesday acquired two landfill renewable natural gas (RNG) production facilities from EDF Renewables North America.

Greentree and Imperial landfill gas facilities are in western Pennsylvania, each with a production capacity of 1.5 million decatherms/year, the equivalent of supplying more than 1,000 natural gas vehicle trucks, or displacing 12 million gallons of gasoline equivalents of diesel fuel.

The growing U.S. NGV fueling network spurred by Fortistar affiliate TruStar Energy, among others, has allowed a growing commercial sector for RNG to develop, according to Fortistar CEO Mark Comora, who is also TruStar chairman. The RNG acquisitions are “the next step” in Fortistar’s RNG development program announced last year.

“By converting organic waste into RNG for productive end use, these facilities will be beneficial to local communities, the transportation industry and the environment,” said Ares partner Brian O’Connor, who heads the private equity firm’s infrastructure and power team.

Meanwhile, a leading proponent of RNG, Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), has lowered the price of compressed natural gas at its 13 public access NGV fueling stations by 26 cents/gallon, effective April 1.

SoCalGas offered the lower price by returning revenue generated from the sale of low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) credits to customers. LCFS is administered by the California Air Resources Board, which is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation fuels 20% by 2030.

“Natural gas has played a significant role in reducing GHG emissions under the LCFS program, while also reducing smog-forming emissions by more than 90%,” said SoCalGas’ Yuri Freedman, senior director of business development. “Lowering the cost of this clean fuel increases the benefits for trucking fleets.”

In other news, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality recently told an advisory committee that EPA plans to update heavy-duty truck nitrogen oxide standards to reduce the chance for added ozone formation. It is part of the agency’s broader Cleaner Trucks Initiative.

And in the competitive electric vehicle space, Duke Energy has launched a $76 million program to install chargers throughout the Southeast region. It is billed as the largest investment in EV infrastructure by a utility in the region.

Overseas, EVs recently outsold fossil-fuel-powered vehicles in Norway during March this year. Officials at the Norwegian EV Association noted that 58.4% of the new car sales in the country. The association dubbed this level of sales “unusually high.”