NGVAmerica News Week in Review: August 24, 2015

• ALT Fuels Colorado Grant Program Announces New Awards for CNG Stations
• Piedmont Natural Gas Announces Progress on Sustainability Initiatives
• amp Trillium Opens Public CNG Station in Tennessee
• Renergy and IGS CNG Services to Open CNG Station in Ohio
• Trillium CNG to Build Public CNG Station in Colorado
• TruStar Energy Opens Public CNG Fueling Station in Tulsa
• Honda Opens First CNG Station to Support Suppliers in Ohio
• American Natural Gas to Open City’s First CNG Station in Kentucky
• CNG Source-NatGas Agreement to Upgrade Operations in Mexico
• Jensen Maritime Develops New LNG Bunker Barge Concepts

 

ALT Fuels Colorado Grant Program Announces New Awards for CNG Stations

The Colorado Energy Office, in partnership with the Regional Air Quality Council and the Colorado Department of Transportation, is awarding four CNG fueling station locations. The ALT Fuels Colorado grant program is designed to remove barriers to the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles by expanding the nation’s fueling infrastructure. To date, the Colorado Energy Office has issued awards for 15 CNG stations.

This is the third funding round since the program’s inception in 2014. The four awarded locations and developers are:

• Henderson, Colorado – Ward Alternative Energy
• Rifle, Colorado – Sparq Natural Gas
• Denver, Colorado -CO
• Gunnison, Colorado – Trillium CNG

“The program’s newly awarded locations illustrate a more comprehensive picture of Colorado’s rapidly advancing statewide system of publicly accessible, fast-fill compressed natural gas fueling stations,” said Wes Maurer, transportation program manager at the Colorado Energy Office.

Through the Federal Highway Administration’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program and the Colorado Department of Transportation, the ALT Fuels Colorado grant program will provide $30 million over a four-year period (2014 to 2017) toward the construction of statewide alternative fueling infrastructure and the deployment of alternative fuel vehicles for fleets operating within the state’s air quality non-attainment area.  Under the Colorado Energy Office’s stewardship, $15 million of the CMAQ funds will be used to develop between 25 and 30 fast-fill CNG stations along major statewide transportation corridors, in turn, creating an intrastate network for natural gas vehicle travel.

The ALT Fuels Colorado grant program commemorated its first CNG station opening in Pueblo, Colorado on August 18, 2015.

 

Piedmont Natural Gas Announces Progress on Sustainability Initiatives

Piedmont Natural Gas announced the publication of its 2015 Sustainability Report, a comprehensive look at the company’s efforts to integrate environmental, social and economic sustainability into all aspects of its business operations. The report is the third in a series published every two years since 2011.

This year’s report details the many ways Piedmont reduced its own carbon footprint over the past two years—including converting company cars and trucks to environmentally responsible natural gas vehicles and making facilities more energy-efficient.

Piedmont Natural Gas is close to reaching a goal set two years ago to convert 30 percent of its own fleet to vehicles powered by natural gas. As of 2014, the company has converted about 300 vehicles, or 28 percent of the fleet to NGVs, displacing the equivalent of 200,000 gallons of gasoline. Piedmont is also helping commercial and private NGV owners go green with its network of public CNG refueling stations, including its 10^th station scheduled to open in September in Anderson, South Carolina.

The full 2015 Sustainability Report is available only online. To view the report, please visitsustainability.piedmontng.com.

 

amp Trillium Opens Public CNG Station in Tennessee

August 17, 2015

amp Trillium, the joint venture between HYPERLINK “http://ampcng.com/” \h ampCNG and HYPERLINK “http://www.trilliumcng.com” \h Trillium CNG, opened a public-access CNG station in Newport, Tennessee. The station is located at a Time Out Travel Center and is a convenient place for CNG-powered trucks and cars to refuel as they travel through western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee along I-40. The Newport station is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can fuel multiple Class-8 trucks simultaneously using Trillium CNG’s fast-fill hydraulic intensifier compressors.

“This site is a great addition to the growing number of public CNG stations in Tennessee and opens up the I-40 corridor to CNG traffic of all sizes,” Jonathan Overly, Executive Director of the East Tennessee Clean Fuels Coalition. “We enjoy working with our member ampCNG and will continue talking to Tennessee fleets to see how this site can help them make the transition to using cleaner-burning, American CNG.”

amp Trillium now operates 22 CNG stations across the country, including one in nearby Charlotte, North Carolina, and will continue to open several more in its mission to create a wide-reaching network of CNG refueling stations along trucking corridors throughout the U.S.

 

TruStar Energy Opens Public CNG Fueling Station in Oklahoma

August 17, 2015

TruStar Energy has opened a public CNG fueling station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The station features two lanes and two fast-fill fueling pumps, providing easy access for commercial vehicles and private CNG-powered consumer vehicles. The station is supplied by natural gas from Apache Corporation and accepts commercial fuel cards such as Comdata or Fuelman as well as all major credit cards.

TruStar Energy is building dozens of CNG stations across the country and opened its first company-branded public fueling station in Orlando in July.

 

Honda Opens First CNG Station to Support Suppliers in Ohio

August 19, 2015

Honda’s continuing effort to minimize the environmental impact of its operations by opening a CNG fueling station on its property in Marysville, Ohio. The CNG station, which was designed, constructed and will be operated by Trillium CNG, is the first public CNG station located on a Honda property in North America. The fully automated station is intended both to provide service to those that have already adopted the use of CNG, and to encourage and facilitate suppliers and logistical partners to adopt and expand its use in the trucks used in support of Honda operations.

“Honda considers the environmental impact of every aspect of our operations and this new CNG station will help reduce the impact of the delivery to our plants in Ohio of more than eight million parts each day,” said Tom Shoupe, Executive Vice President and COO, Honda of America. “For those carriers utilizing CNG trucks, and by encouraging more to do so, this new station will make a significant impact on emissions, and nicely complements the many environment efforts we make with our own manufacturing operations.”

The station will feature three Class 8 dispensers for over-the-road carriers and can also serve customers who drive CNG-fueled passenger cars as well. The station uses Trillium CNG’s proprietary fast-fill 7″ Hydraulic Intensifier Compressor (HY-C). The new HY-C is capable of delivering enough fuel to allow multiple heavy-duty vehicles to fuel across multiple lanes.

 

American Natural Gas to Open City’s First CNG Station in Kentucky

August 24, 2015

American Natural Gas (ANG) is building a new CNG station in Georgetown, Kentucky, where Bestway Express, a truckload carrier, will be the anchor tenant. The station will be available for use by other carriers and the public and is expected to open in November of this year.

This will be the first public CNG station in Georgetown, which is a regional hub for the automotive, agriculture, and transportation industries. Once completed, ANG will make alternative fuel readily available for carriers and shippers along the I-75/I-64 corridor. ANG is responsible for building, owning, and operating the Georgetown CNG station.

“I’m proud to welcome ANG to the Commonwealth,” said Governor Steve Beshear. “This CNG station is a win-win-win for Kentucky – it helps strengthen our economy, improves our environment and supports our energy strategy.”

ANG is working closely with Columbia Gas, a utility company and natural gas supplier, to secure high pressure and adequate capacity at the location. The site will feature generous ingress and egress, large capacity buffer storage and consumer-friendly CNG fuel dispensers.

 

Renergy and IGS CNG Services to Open CNG Station in Ohio

August 18, 2015

Renergy and IGS CNG Services have partnered to construct a CNG fueling station at the intersection of I-71 and State Route 61 in Ohio. The station broke ground in May 2015 and is now open publically to anyone driving CNG-fueled vehicles.

“It became immediately clear in our initial discussions with IGS that we were closely aligned in our approach to business, commitment to the community, and strong belief in developing alternative energy resources,” said Mike Oberfield, COO for Renergy.

Renergy’s transportation division operates a fleet of CNG vehicles to transport organics from their customers and will serve as the anchor to the new, unmanned station. Customers will be able to use IGS fleet cards, as well as many widely used credit cards to pay for the fuel.

The strategic location of the station off I-71 ensures heavy trucks and passenger vehicles traveling the corridor between Cleveland and Columbus will have convenient access to CNG.

 

Trillium CNG to Build Public CNG Station in Colorado

August 20, 2015

Trillium CNG plans to design, build, operate and maintain a public CNG fueling station at the Glenwood Food & Fuel Shell West Mart located in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The anchor fleet for the public-access station will be Western Tank Lines.

The new facility, located just north of I-70 in West Glenwood, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will feature one dual-hose dispenser with access from two lanes.

Ground breaking at the site began August 10, and Trillium CNG expects the new facility to be completed and operational by the fall. This is Trillium CNG’s second station in Colorado. Trillium CNG built and operates the private CNG station in Glenwood Springs that supports the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) for its VelociRFTA Bus Rapid Transit, which provides service to Aspen and Grand Hogback service to Rifle.

Garfield County, which is working to switch vehicles in its fleet to natural gas, reached out in support of the natural gas fueling station with a $90,000 grant. The new Glenwood Springs station is also supported by a $10,000 grant from the City of Glenwood Springs and a $442,880 grant from the State of Colorado’s Alt Fuels Colorado grant program, which is funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

“The Glenwood Springs City Council is pleased to see construction begin on the Trillium CNG fueling station, and we look forward to the station opening this fall,” said Glenwood Springs Mayor Mike Gamba. “Offering public CNG fueling helps diversify our local economy, and will give people an incentive to buy CNG vehicles.”

 

CNG Source-NatGas Agreement to Upgrade CNG Fueling in Mexico

CNG Source, working out of Indianapolis, Indiana, is expanding its business in Mexico by establishing a full-service agreement with NatGas, a CNG Station operator headquartered in Querétero, Mexico, that serves a variety of fleets and vehicles.

Among other tasks, CNG Source will assist NatGas in deploying a monitoring and control system for managing multiple locations with extended equipment reading and control capabilities. The company will also implement new priority panels, custom NatGas dispensers and storage systems, as well as complete compression systems.

The agreement allows CNG Source to grow its influence throughout the Americas. Expansion beyond US borders has been one of CNG Source’s primary goals for 2015, marked by the opening of a branch in Monterrey at the start of the year under the “CNG-Source-Mexico” brand.

 

Jensen Maritime Develops New LNG Bunker Barge Concepts

August 19, 2015

Jensen Maritime, a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corp., announced the development of two new, LNG bunker barge concepts that can be fully customized to meet customers’ needs.

The first concept involves outfitting an existing barge with an above-deck LNG tank. The concept can be further modified to accommodate more than one type of product, if a customer has a need for multiple liquid transfers. Advantages of this design include a fast turnaround and a reduced need to invest in specialized assets if a customer has short-term LNG requirements.

The second concept is for a purpose-built, new bunker barge. Offering greater carrying capacity and improved visibility, the design features a larger LNG tank that is nestled inside of the barge. Bunker barges offer a solution for the maritime industry, which is currently struggling with the decision to develop LNG infrastructure or vessels first.