Biogas: Our People – James Kyzar, P.E.

Our team would like to take the opportunity in early 2024 to continue to introduce you to more of our Biogas team members who make a different both behind the scenes and face-to-face with our clients and projects. Up first we have James Kyzar, P.E., who is our Senior Sales and Applications Engineer.

“When the Montrose Biogas team engages on project opportunities, James is usually the first person to sit down and put onto paper what value and environmental benefit can be generated by our clients. His broad base of knowledge of what works and what doesn’t helps steer the project development ‘ship’. I am appreciative of James’ experience and ability to distill these complex endeavors into a vision for a better future.” – Jacob Stern, VP RNG

When and why did you join the Montrose team, and how has it evolved since then?

I joined the team back in January 2019, back when it was really small. We only had 5 members and acted very much like a startup. I came to Montrose looking to be part of a group working in a growing and dynamic industry. Personally, I appreciate the circular, low-carbon story that renewable energy provides, taking “waste” streams and harvesting energy and recycling nutrients. The maturation and development of the team’s capabilities has been exciting to witness, now allowing us to deliver several large projects concurrently.

What do you feel the Montrose team brings to their clients that sets them apart from others in this space? How would you describe the Biogas team’s vision and mission for their work and clients?  

Not to be undersold, but we build things that work. Montrose’s greatest strength is the ability to walk with a client from initial concept to operational facility. We bring an ability to have “fence-post” conversations with a client in an empty field to develop project ideas. Then, we take those conversations and build a project concept that meets the needs of the client. Our delivery team is well suited to provide quality designs, procurement, installation, and operations support. Additionally, the team often looks at internal processes and doesn’t take the “we have always done it this way” as an appropriate answer. There seems to generally be a culture of continuing to learn and improve.

When it comes to our vision and mission, I would say that Montrose Biogas strives to deliver quality renewables projects end-to-end by leveraging the skills and teamwork of a great team.

How does the work that you do contribute to the successful future of RNG? What are you most looking forward to on each of your projects and beyond?

Much of the work that I do takes projects from nebulous constructs and refines the vision to become a feasible project that can be transitioned to a defined engineering effort. Successfully bridging the creative and innovative ideas around project concept to technical and financial feasibility is of great importance to delivering projects that work to the market.

I enjoy the opportunity to learn from each client and site about their specific goals and needs. Often this is a journey, where these goals are sharpened and refined as the conceptual design for a project is communicated. I’m looking forward to seeing the renewable energy business grow and mature to include more projects and feedstocks, with further adoption of ancillary renewable technologies, such as nutrient recovery, CO2 recovery, and more.

Who is someone on the team that you really enjoy working with, and why?

I really enjoy working with Gabriel Aviles, an up-and-coming process engineer. He is a very hard worker who is hungry to learn this business and continues to develop his skill sets.

As one of the more tenured members on the team, what advice would you give to someone who wants to work in this field?

Be bold, think critically, and be unafraid to ask questions. There is a lot to learn about the digestion and biogas space. Though the industry is different than some “traditional” fields, being able to think and effectively communicate are constants to delivering successful projects.