Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority and Anaergia win Wastewater Project of the Year

Desert and Mountain, Wastewater News

Anaergia Inc. announced it has been named Net Zero Carbon Champion in the water industry’s most prestigious awards program, the Global Water Awards. In addition, a wastewater project designed, built, and financed through the Company’s subsidiary SoCal Biomethane for Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority was named Wastewater Project of the Year. The awards represent a milestone in the Company’s mission to accelerate decarbonization at scale and recognize its efforts to build world-class sustainable infrastructure in the water and waste industries. The awards were presented on Tuesday evening at the Global Water Summit in Berlin, Germany.

The Net Zero Carbon Champion award is given to the company whose products and services have done the most to reduce the carbon emissions of their customers in 2022 globally. Through these awards, the global water industry recognizes the environmental benefits of Anaergia’s projects that allow wastewater plants to co-digest food scraps and other organic waste or biosolids. The awards program also noted the Company’s role as a complete lifecycle-solutions partner for wastewater facilities, offering a full array of technologies as well as services such as project financing and operations. In addition, the awards program highlighted Anaergia’s continued growth and multiple plants converting waste into carbon-negative fuel globally in 2022 and noted that, “By helping its clients produce renewable fuel from waste, Anaergia has allowed them to greatly reduce and sometimes completely eliminate the carbon footprint of their plant operations.”

The project named Wastewater Project of the Year is a state-of-the-art co-digestion and biogas upgrading facility operating at Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority’s (VVWRA) wastewater treatment plant in Victorville, California. It was commissioned in 2022 by Anaergia’s SoCal Biomethane subsidiary in partnership with VVWRA, North Sky Capital and Live Oak Capital Partners.  The facility, which converts 235,000 tons a year of waste and biosolids into 320,000Mmbtu of biomethane, is North America’s largest privately financed co-digestion-to-biomethane project for pipeline injection at a wastewater treatment plant. By co-digesting waste from sources beyond its own wastewater responsibilities, the plant makes VVWRA a regional champion for waste reduction.

“Last night, in Berlin, Anaergia received two very significant honors in the most prestigious competition in the world for the water sector. With Anaergia receiving two of the most impressive awards out of a total of 12 presented, we deeply appreciate this exceptional recognition given the large number of other excellent and much larger global corporations in the world,” said Andrew Benedek, Anaergia’s Chairman and CEO. “It is great to see that the global community recognizes our work which turns wastewater plants into resource recovery centers. For several decades Anaergia has been helping cities, utilities and industries decarbonize by converting their waste into carbon-negative fuel and diverting organics from landfill disposal. Our facilities help reduce methane emissions at scale and make net zero possible around the globe every day. We thank all our clients, partners, and the global water industry for this recognition of our work globally to help make our planet more sustainable.”

Established in 2006 by Global Water Intelligence, the Global Water Awards recognize the most important achievements in the international water industry within several categories, and reward those initiatives in the water, wastewater and desalination sectors that are moving the industry forward through improved operating performance, innovative technology adoption and sustainable financial models. Each year, the coveted Global Water Awards are presented at the Global Water Summit, the major business conference for the water industry worldwide.