Biogas Finds a New Customer: the Data Center

More than half of all biogas captured in the United States last year was converted to electricity, a milestone that reflects a profound shift in how the industry positions itself in an energy-hungry economy

Data released by the American Biogas Council in April 2026 showed that 52 percent of captured biogas went to power generation in 2025, surpassing the share upgraded to renewable natural gas. Nearly 2,600 biogas capture facilities now operate nationwide, with more than 1,450 producing electricity for on-site use or grid delivery. Landfills account for about 75 percent of captured electricity volume; wastewater treatment plants and farm digesters supply the rest

The timing is not coincidental. Artificial intelligence data centers have emerged as one of the fastest-growing sources of electricity demand in the country, and their operators face a structural problem. Interconnection queues for new grid capacity can stretch years. Intermittent renewables cannot guarantee the continuous power that computing infrastructure requires. Biogas, which operates around the clock and draws on existing waste streams, offers something those alternatives cannot: reliability without waiting

Patrick Serfass, executive director of the American Biogas Council, noted that as electricity demand rises driven by data centers and energy-intensive industries, biogas represents one of the largest untapped energy sources available. The organization estimates that more than 17,000 additional biogas systems could be built nationwide using existing waste streams, potentially generating as much as 25 gigawatts of dispatchable renewable electricity

Investment is already moving. Mobius Renewables acquired Air Liquide's U.S. biogas assets in May 2026, including six landfill gas-to-RNG facilities. More than $2 billion was invested in U.S. biogas systems in 2025 alone. The question facing the sector is no longer whether the technology works. It is whether the supply can scale fast enough to meet demand that is accelerating faster than anyone predicted