The Community Benefits of Calgren’s RNG and CCS Programs

Developing lower-carbon energy in the Central Valley is about more than reducing emissions. It is also about building systems that work within the region’s agricultural economy, creating opportunities for the next generation and helping ensure that the communities surrounding these projects have a place in California’s evolving energy landscape.

That connection can already be seen through our renewable natural gas program and the infrastructure growing around it. It is also helping shape the developing Tulare County Carbon Storage Project (TCCSP), where community engagement, education and workforce development are being considered alongside the technical work required to advance carbon capture and storage.

Together, these programs show how energy innovation can remain connected to the region where it happens.

Agriculture is deeply woven into Tulare County’s economy and identity, and our renewable natural gas program builds directly on that existing agricultural network.

Through anaerobic digesters, methane produced from dairy manure can be captured rather than released into the atmosphere. The resulting biogas is collected and upgraded into renewable natural gas, turning an agricultural waste stream into a usable energy resource.

But the value of the digester network goes beyond the gas itself.

Developing a digester independently can require significant capital, technical expertise and infrastructure—barriers that may make a project impractical for an individual dairy. By working collectively with local producers, the Calgren Dairy Fuels model gives participating farms another way to enter the renewable-energy economy while continuing to focus on their core agricultural operations.

Legacy Ranches owner Jared Fernandes described that impact in a CalMatters profile of the Calgren dairy network. Although he had long been interested in agricultural technology, developing a digester independently had not made financial sense for his operation. That changed when Calgren approached him about becoming part of the network. 

The partnership created an additional use for something the dairy was already producing every day. Instead of manure remaining in an open lagoon, methane can be captured and moved through the Calgren network, while the dairy participates economically through its manure supply agreement.

That relationship illustrates an important part of how we think about community impact.

Calgren does not operate in isolation. We work within a network of local dairy families, transportation companies, contractors, schools and other organizations that are themselves part of the economic fabric of the Central Valley.

When a local dairy becomes more resilient or gains access to a new revenue opportunity, the impact does not necessarily stop at the farm gate. These are businesses that employ local workers, purchase goods and services, support other agricultural businesses and participate in the communities where their families live.

In that way, some of the benefits created by renewable-energy development are indirect but still meaningful. Supporting the long-term strength of local agriculture helps support the broader network of people and businesses that depend on it.

The model also creates a connection between two industries that are increasingly intertwined in the Central Valley: agriculture and renewable energy. Rather than asking the region to move away from its agricultural roots, our RNG system creates opportunities to find additional value within them.

That local connection became even more visible with the opening of our first public renewable compressed natural gas fueling station in Pixley. The station allows compatible vehicles to fuel with RNG produced from local dairy methane, creating a more direct connection between the region’s agricultural resources and its transportation network. In addition, by fueling with RNG the transportation network can get an economic benefit of more than 50% using RNG vs conventional fuels like gasoline or diesel.

The community value of that infrastructure becomes more tangible when local companies can actually use it.

After visiting our Pixley facility and the new fueling station, Visalia-based Premier Ag Transportation shared its experience. The company highlighted our use of methane collected from local family dairies and the ability to fuel heavy-duty trucks with RNG at the Pixley station. Premier Ag described the facility as unlike anything its team had seen at another fueling site and wrote: 

For regional transportation companies, infrastructure like this turns renewable energy from an abstract environmental concept into something much more practical: a fuel option they can use in their day-to-day operations.

It is one example of how investment in renewable-energy infrastructure can extend beyond our own operations to the businesses working throughout the region.

Community benefit is also about looking beyond today’s workforce.

As we have expanded into renewable fuels and carbon-management technologies, our Pixley facility has become a place where local students can see how agriculture, engineering, environmental science and energy intersect outside the classroom.

In 2026, interns from Porterville Unified School District visited our facility through Climate Action Pathways for Schools. Students toured the site and spoke with industry professionals about ethanol production, dairy methane, renewable natural gas and carbon capture technologies.

CAPS described the experience as helping students connect classroom learning with real-world efforts in decarbonizing energy and transportation while creating “clearer pathways into the green workforce.”

That type of exposure matters because the workforce needed for renewable fuels and carbon management draws from a wide range of disciplines—from engineering and environmental science to operations, skilled trades, agriculture and technology.

For students growing up in the Central Valley, seeing those technologies operating locally can make those careers feel considerably closer to home.

Our involvement in the community has also extended beyond the facility.

At the 2026 Tulare County Science & Engineering Fair, four students received $500 Calgren Carbon Educator Scholarships. The Tulare County Office of Education recognized Calgren for providing scholarships to four Science Fair winners.

One recipient, Monache High School student Morgan Driver, developed Saltbush Saves Salty Soils, a project testing whether saltbush could reduce salinity in soil. His experiment found a 70% decrease in salinity.

Explaining why he chose the subject, Driver said:

Driver received first place in his category, a Calgren scholarship, and the opportunity to advance to the California State Science & Engineering Fair.

Harmony Magnet Academy freshman Jose Dorado was another scholarship recipient after placing first at the Tulare County STEAM Expo Science and Engineering competition and advancing to the state competition.

These may be relatively small investments compared with the scale of an industrial energy project, but their impact is personal. They encourage students to investigate the same kinds of questions—about agriculture, natural resources, sustainability and technology—that will influence the future of the Central Valley.

Student tours and scholarships also contribute to a larger goal: making sure some of the skills required by emerging industries can be developed within the communities where those industries operate.

That idea is being incorporated into planning for the Tulare County Carbon Storage Project.

TCCSP is being developed to evaluate the feasibility of safely and permanently storing captured carbon dioxide underground in Tulare County. The goal is to develop a technically sound and environmentally responsible carbon capture and storage project that can contribute to a lower-carbon future while remaining responsive to the communities around it. 

Community-benefits planning associated with the project has included workforce development beginning at the school level and continuing into higher education, as well as engagement with the Pixley community and local schools. 

As renewable fuels and carbon-management technologies expand, the skills needed to support them will expand as well.

The opportunity for Tulare County is not simply to host new infrastructure. It is also to create opportunities for local students and workers to understand, participate in and eventually help lead the industries developing around them.

Large infrastructure projects inevitably raise questions for the people who live nearby.

How will a project affect the surrounding community? What opportunities could it create? How will environmental impacts be evaluated? And how can residents participate in the process?

Those conversations are especially important for carbon capture and storage, a technology that may be unfamiliar to many people outside the energy industry.

Community engagement has therefore been incorporated into TCCSP planning alongside geological and engineering work. Project materials identify community benefits, environmental justice and community and stakeholder engagement among the workstreams involved in development.

These remain components of a project in development rather than completed community benefits, and that distinction matters.

But asking those questions early establishes an important expectation: major investments in clean-energy infrastructure should consider the people and communities that will live alongside them.

California’s transition toward lower-carbon energy will require new technologies and new infrastructure. For regions like the Central Valley, the question is not simply whether those projects will be built here. It is whether local communities will participate in the opportunities they create. Our RNG program already offers examples of how that can happen.

– Local dairy farms become part of renewable-energy production.

– Methane generated within the agricultural economy becomes transportation fuel.

– A Visalia trucking company discovers a new fueling option in Pixley and says it intends to bring its fleet back.

– Students walk through an operating renewable-fuels facility and talk with people working in the industry.

– High school students receive scholarships for investigating challenges facing agriculture and the environment around them.

– And as TCCSP develops, community engagement and workforce development are being considered alongside the technical questions surrounding carbon storage.

Individually, these may seem like separate stories. Together, they show something larger.

The value of our RNG and CCS programs is not defined only by the carbon they can reduce. It is also found in the connections they create between agriculture, education, local businesses, technology, infrastructure and the people who call the Central Valley home.

Building a lower-carbon future also means helping ensure the Central Valley has a meaningful role in creating it.