How do you price RNG?

Pipeline quality RNG acts just like geologic natural gas, and as such, is priced in just the same way. In the U.S., that pricing mechanism is $US/MMBtu (and $C/GJ in Canada). However, what typically drives the economics of RNG isn’t the intrinsic value of the gas, it’s the carbon credits that RNG generates that can be traded separately. In the U.S., the EPA has a national program where such credits, or Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), must be purchased by certain participants in the transportation fuel sector. States such as California and Oregon have programs where RNG creates Low Fuels Carbon Standard credits based on their carbon intensity scores. To put just how much these credits can be worth, monthly gas prices at the Henry Hub from 2017-2021 ranged between $1.50-$6.22/MMbtu, whereas certain dairy based credits have fetched more than $100/MMbtu in recent months.