NGVAmerica News Week in Review: August 7, 2017

• Clean Energy Awarded Multiple Fueling Contracts
• NGVAmerica Advocates for NGVs at NREL Research Workshop
• American Natural Gas Cuts Ribbon on New Middle Tennessee Fueling Station
• Sheehy Mail Contractors Partners with Trillium CNG
• Ryder Honored for the Ninth Consecutive Year as Green Supply Chain Partner
• Wärtsilä to Supply Technology to New LNG-Fueled German Research Ship

Clean Energy Awarded Multiple Fueling Contracts

August 2, 2017

Clean Energy Fuels announced the extension of multiple fueling contracts, the addition of new natural gas fleets, and the growth of Redeem renewable natural gas (RNG) volumes. In transit, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has extended Clean Energy’s operation and maintenance contract for an additional four years. Clean Energy services DART’s four CNG facilities supporting 537 buses and 123 shuttles and paratransit vehicles. The fuel supplier anticipates the stations will dispense approximately 40 million GGEs over the contract period.

On July 27, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMTA) approved the purchase of an additional 65 CNG buses, expanding on a purchase earlier in July of 295, for a total of 360 new CNG buses. LAMTA currently operates the largest CNG fleet in the nation with a total of 2,250 buses, all of which may, at the option of LAMTA, be fueled by Clean Energy’s Redeem brand of RNG that is the cleanest transportation fuel available rated 70 percent cleaner than diesel. These new buses will be fitted with Cummins-Westport’s (CWI) latest L9N engines, which have NOx emissions 90 percent lower than the current EPA NOx limit of 0.2 g/bhp-hr.

In addition to these two agreements in the transit market, Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit in has extended its LNG fueling contract with Clean Energy, as has Orange County Transportation Authority, both of which are located in California.

The Cities of Fresno, California, and Tempe, Arizona, along with the National Park Service Grand Canyon and Kings County Area Public Transit in Hanford, California, have each signed operations and maintenance agreements with Clean Energy for their stations. These agencies are estimated to dispense close to 6 million GGEs per year.

In the heavy duty trucking market, Clean Energy added three large United States Postal Service (USPS) carriers to its customer list. They include one of the largest USPS carriers, St. Augustine, Florida based Postal Fleet Services, Thunder Ridge Transport, a carrier servicing 13 states, and Edward Zengel & Sons, also based out of Florida. The addition of these three fleets brings the total number of USPS carriers fueled by Clean Energy to 13.

Long time Clean Energy customer Ruan Transportation Management Systems has also awarded Clean Energy a fueling contract for CNG trucks operating out of Dallas and Austin, Texas. Food Express, a national transporter of food grade commodities, based out of Arcadia, California will begin fueling with Clean Energy for their routes in Southern California.

The addition of these fleets represents approximately 400,000 GGEs per year.

In the refuse sector, Clean Energy was awarded a contract to design and build a new station for Patriot Waste, the refuse provider to Prescott Valley, Arizona. The Cities of Denver, Sacramento and Redlands, California, and Marborg Industries in Santa Barbara, California have also extended fueling agreements for their transit agencies.

The City of San Bernardino, California has awarded Clean Energy a multi-year LNG supply and maintenance contract. The LNG is converted into CNG for the City’s public fueling station which is utilized by many neighboring CNG school bus and refuse fleets.

The fueling contracts and maintenance agreements represent approximately 2.25 million GGEs per year.

NGVAmerica Advocates for NGVs at NREL Research Workshop

August 7, 2017

NGVAmerica and industry advocates participated at the Natural Gas Vehicle Research Workshop that recently took place at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. There were approximately fifty people in attendance from across the NGV industry and national laboratories. The Department of Energy (DOE) informed the workshop that up to $15M is available for medium and heavy duty natural gas engine research and development for fiscal year (FY) 2017, there is also language in the Senate FY18 Energy & Water Development appropriations that allows for continued R&D for natural gas vehicle improvements. The Department stated that they do not expect that they will be able to receive the full $15M for FY17.

The objective of the workshop was to identify ideas that can lead to projects that will advance the science base for increased efficiency in natural gas engines and improved emissions. The workshop is not to identify an additional engine product in the market or for deployment. The Department is looking for multiple projects, balancing competitively-awarded, cost-shared cooperative agreements and projects at national laboratories. The discussions were centered around three main topics: Engine Efficiency, Emissions & Aftertreatment Technologies, and Fuel System & Onboard Storage. NGVAmerica included its top priorities in the discussion.

It was also mentioned at the beginning of the workshop by Mark Smith (DOE) that there is not going to be a Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum (NGVTF) this year due to budget constraints at DOE. This is the annual event that DOE and the California Energy Commission (CEC) organize to highlight technical improvements in the NGV market along with R&D needs. NGVAmerica is participating in conversations to determine if there is any way to still have an NGV technology event, similar to the NGVTF.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) also gave an overview of several programs that are ongoing. CEC is interested in participating in a joint funding announcement with the DOE, assuming that there is overlap of priorities (CEC is more interested in near-term development).

American Natural Gas Cuts Ribbon on New Middle Tennessee Fueling Station

August 1, 2017

American Natural Gas (ANG) held a ribbon cutting ceremony in collaboration with Tennessee Clean Fuels to unveil its new public CNG station in Fayetteville, Tennessee. The facility will be open to the public and PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division will be a major customer with its fleet of CNG tractor-trailers.

“We are thrilled that Frito-Lay selected Fayetteville and Tennessee as a site to continue expanding their CNG fleet and are excited to get to know ANG as they help make it happen,” said Jonathan Overly, director of Tennessee Clean Fuels. “CNG has so many benefits: it reduces greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant emissions, supports growing more green American jobs, and reduces oil imports. Frito-Lay and ANG are helping us build a stronger and more independent and resilient USA.”

The opening statements and ribbon cutting ceremony were attended by state and local officials, as well as Ken Marko, Senior National Fleet Sustainability Manager, PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Division.

“We could not be more excited about the completion of this ANG CNG fueling station, which is located just a few miles from Frito-Lay’s Fayetteville manufacturing facility,” said Marko. “Having a national infrastructure for alternative fuel is critical to the expansion of Frito-Lay’s CNG fleet and for other companies currently using or considering this technology.”

Open 24-hours, the fast-fill Fayetteville station has three consumer-friendly dispensers equipped with NGV2 nozzles for heavy duty, high-capacity users, as well as NGV1 nozzles for light and medium duty use. ANG will oversee operations with state-of-the-art monitoring platforms and an expert on-call maintenance team.

ANG currently owns and operates approximately 40 fueling stations in 13 states across the US, which includes stations in process and under development. The company is expanding to meet fleets’ demands for CNG.

Sheehy Mail Contractors Partners with Trillium CNG

August 1, 2017

Sheehy Mail Contractors partnered with Love’s Trillium CNG after recently expanding its fleet of natural gas vehicles. The mail carrier entered into a contract with Trillium and now stops at the Trillium CNG refueling station in Omaha, Nebraska.

Sheehy’s NGV fleet expansion in Omaha is a team effort across multiple agencies and sectors. Metropolitan Utilities District manages the CNG Fleet Fund Program, which helps offset the incremental cost of purchasing natural gas vehicles. Sheehy applied to this program and was awarded incentives to purchase four new Freightliner CNG trucks. Since 2013, the CNG Fleet Fund Program assisted in the purchase of more than 110 vehicles in the Omaha market.

“Fueling a CNG truck is clean and simple,” said John Sheehy, CEO of Sheehy Enterprises. “We also know it is the right thing to do for the environment, and we promote that to our customers and employees.”

Sheehy was an early adopter of CNG, beginning the conversion process in 2013. The company has driven 35 million miles on CNG. The alternative fuel accounts for 92 percent of all fuel purchased by Sheehy Mail Contractors.

Ryder Honored for the Ninth Consecutive Year as Green Supply Chain Partner

August 2, 2017

Ryder System has been named a Green Supply Chain Partner by Inbound Logistics for the ninth consecutive year. Inbound Logistics editors have selected 75 companies that demonstrate a deep commitment to green initiatives in transportation and supply chain sustainability for the magazine’s annual “G75” issue.

“We continue to be committed to providing our customers with innovative solutions and superior execution to help them meet their business and sustainability goals,” said Ryder President of Global Fleet Management Solutions, Dennis Cooke. “Awards like this illustrate the importance we continually place on providing our customers with the most flexibility, choice, and control in fleet management.”

Ryder was recognized by Inbound Logistics for its leadership in offering advanced vehicle technologies. Ryder has demonstrated the ability to provide customers with the most flexibility, choice, and control in fleet management, as well as innovative solutions to promote sustainability. Ryder accomplishes this by helping companies improve fuel economy and reduce vehicle emissions by deploying into their commercial fleets thousands of NGVs that include the latest technologies that meet the EPA’s 2017 greenhouse gas emissions standard.

Ryder is the leader in NGV solutions for the commercial transportation industry, with more than 150 million miles of experience and approximately 23.1 million gallons of diesel fuel displaced. The Company has 21 NGV maintenance facilities and more than 6,200 NGV-trained maintenance technicians and support personnel. Ryder also operates liquefied to compressed natural gas (LCNG) fueling stations at its Fontana and Orange, California, service locations where the Company has partnered with Clean Energy Fuels to offer renewable natural gas.

Wärtsilä to Supply Technology to New LNG-Fueled German Research Ship

August 4, 2017

Wärtsilä is to supply the engines for a new LNG fueled research vessel being built for the German government. Wärtsilä will also supply exhaust cleaning systems based on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology and the LNGPac system for complete fuel gas handling.

The vessel is under construction at the Fassmer shipyard in Germany and will be owned by Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH), the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. The contract was signed with Wärtsilä in June 2017.

The new ship Atair will replace her 30 year old namesake and will be the first German research vessel operating on LNG fuel. Wärtsilä will also supply the engines and SCR systems for three German Federal police boats to be built at the Fassmer yard.

Wärtsilä’s will supply two 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel engines capable of running on either LNG or conventional liquid fuels, one 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 engine, two exhaust cleaning systems, and a Wärtsilä LNGPac fuel storage, supply, and control system.

The engines will have Tier III classification since the dual-fuel engines comply with this classification when running in gas mode, and all the engines will be compliant when operating on diesel because of the Wärtsilä SCR systems. Furthermore, the engines will be double elastically mounted to minimise the noise. This special Wärtsilä technique will enable the ship to fulfil the DNVGL classification society’s ‘Silent R’ rating, thus allowing the sonar equipment to be used without disturbance from underwater radiated engine noise.

The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled to be delivered to the yard in mid-2018, and the vessel will enter service in early 2020.