TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables, a Portfolio Company of BlackRock’s Diversified Infrastructure Business, Join Forces to Develop Renewable Natural Gas in the United States

Regulatory News:

TotalEnergies (Paris:TTE) (LSE:TTE) (NYSE:TTE), a global integrated energy company, and Vanguard Renewables, a U.S. leader in farm-based organics-to-renewable natural gas production and a portfolio company of a fund managed by BlackRock’s Diversified Infrastructure business, have signed an agreement to create an equally owned joint venture to develop, build, and operate Farm Powered renewable natural gas (RNG) projects in the United States. The signing took place in New York on April 12^th 2024 in the presence of Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies and Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock.

TotalEnergies and Vanguard Renewables will advance 10 RNG projects into construction over the next 12 months, with a total annual RNG capacity of 0.8 TWh (2.5 Bcf). The three initial projects in this agreement are currently under construction in Wisconsin and Virginia, each with a unit capacity of nearly 75 GWh (0.25 Bcf) of RNG per year.

Beyond these first 10 projects, the partners will consider investing together in a potential pipeline of about 60 projects across the country for a total capacity of 5 TWh (15 Bcf) per year.

"TotalEnergies is pleased to partner with BlackRock and its portfolio company Vanguard Renewables, to accelerate the development of food biowaste processing into renewable natural gas in the United States. By expanding into this fast-growing market, our joint venture will create value for both companies while benefiting the food and farming sectors as well as providing a ready-to-use solution to industrial companies willing to decarbonize their energy supply. This joint venture is a new step for TotalEnergies in achieving its objective to produce 10 TWh of renewable natural gas by 2030,” said Olivier Guerrini, Vice President, Biogas at TotalEnergies.

Vanguard Renewables, a key RNG player in the United States

Headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts, Vanguard Renewables was founded in 2014 and has a workforce of approximately 260. The company currently operates 17 organics-to-renewable energy facilities with an annual capacity of more than 440 GWh (1.5 Bcf) of RNG. Looking beyond 2024, Vanguard Renewables plans to commission over 100 RNG projects by the end of 2028.

In July 2022, Vanguard Renewables was acquired by BlackRock, through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business (“BlackRock”). BlackRock has partnered with Vanguard Renewables’ management team to build upon the company’s market-leading track record to drive the next phase of its growth to support the nationwide expansion of its anaerobic digester projects from coast to coast. BlackRock will remain the majority shareholder of Vanguard Renewables.