Natural gas is already facing competition from wind and solar in some markets, and biogas has also been nipping at its heels. What biogas lacks, though, is the flexibility and market reach provided by renewable energy certificates–until now, that is. A new REC plan for biogas is up and running, and it could give natural gas a real run for the money, according to Cleantechnica.

Renewable energy certificates have played a key role in accelerating access to renewable energy in the US. That’s because REC holders get to claim part (or all) of the output from a wind or solar farm, even though they don’t have physical access to the clean kilowatts. Financial backers can greenlight more projects knowing that willing REC buyers are waiting in the wings.

The important thing is that the projects get built, and someone, somewhere, gets their hands on renewable energy instead of going to fossil fuel. RECs could do the same thing for biogas, too.

One result would be a sharp uptick in biogas recovery systems at dairy farms and other livestock operations. That’s something EPA has been trying to encourage since 1994.

The new biogas certificate program is a first-of-its-kind pilot program.