Case Study: San Antonio Water System achieves processing of 1.5 million cubic feet of biogas daily and major emissions reductions with Ameresco

San Antonio Water System Processes 1.5 Million Cubic Feet of Biogas Daily

San Antonio Water System (SAWS) partnered with Ameresco to address the challenge of reducing flared emissions and turning wastewater-derived biogas into a renewable energy resource. Under a Power Purchase Agreement and a design-build/own-operate-maintain approach, SAWS aimed to capture and reuse biogas from its wastewater treatment process to improve sustainability and protect local air quality.

Ameresco restructured SAWS’s systems to capture biogas, process it, and sell it into a commercial gas pipeline, while also supplying recycled water to the community. The Ameresco project processes about 1.5 million standard cubic feet of biogas daily (with at least 900,000 scf delivered to the pipeline), supports 115 million gallons/day of recycled water use, yields an estimated $200,000 in annual royalties, has a 4.8 MW plant capacity, and cuts roughly 19,739 tons CO2e annually.

San Antonio Water System

Robert R. Puente

President/Chief Executive Officer