Peaks Renewables Secures $4.5M DOE Grant for First Biomethane‑Hydrogen Pilot in Maine

TL;DR: Peaks Renewables received a nearly $4.5 million DOE grant to pilot the country's first on‑system biomethane‑hydrogen project. The grant builds on its Clinton, Maine dairy digester, which began delivering renewable natural gas in September 2023 after breaking ground in July 2022.

Peaks Renewables, a subsidiary of Summit Utilities, has operated a natural gas network in Maine since 2013, investing over $340 million to extend pipelines and offer rebates for oil‑to‑gas conversions. By 2019 those efforts cut the state's carbon emissions by an estimated 69,000 metric tons per year, equal to removing 15,000 cars from the road.

In 2024 the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Peaks Renewables nearly $4.5 million for the nation's first on‑system biomethane‑hydrogen pilot—a test of blending hydrogen with gas made from manure—to combine hydrogen with biomethane produced at the digester. The anaerobic digester at Flood Brothers Farm in Clinton, Maine (a sealed tank where microbes break down manure to produce biogas) started sending renewable natural gas (gas upgraded from biogas to pipeline quality) into the pipeline in September 2023, following a groundbreaking in July 2022. The facility processes manure from five dairy farms, producing about 130,000 MMBtu of gas yearly—enough to meet 45 percent of Summit's residential gas demand in the state—and avoids roughly 28,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually, comparable to taking 6,500 cars off the road.

The DOE grant will fund research into injecting hydrogen into the existing gas stream, testing how the blend performs in pipelines and end-use appliances. If successful, the approach could lower the carbon intensity of delivered gas while utilizing existing infrastructure, offering a scalable model for other rural utilities. Stakeholders will monitor pilot results, cost‑effectiveness, and any regulatory steps needed for broader hydrogen blending, with the first performance data expected later this year to determine whether the biomethane‑hydrogen mix can be expanded to other Summit service areas.