NGVAmerica News Week in Review: September 12, 2016

 

• U.S. DOT Announces Grants for New Natural Gas Buses, Facilities
• NGVAmerica Honors Recipients of the 2016 NGV Achievement Awards
• NGVAmerica’s Godlewski Joining Boone Pickens & FedEx’s Fred Smith for NGV Webinar September 19
• Missouri School District Receives 19 Thomas Built CNG-Powered School Buses
• PennDOT Joins Transit Authority for CNG Station Ground Breaking
• Sacramento County Switching to RNG for LNG-Powered Trucks
• S. DOE Co-Optima Webinar to Be Held This Week
• New Global Brand Gas4Sea Enters LNG Bunkering Market

 

U.S. DOT Announces Grants for New Natural Gas Buses, Facilities

September 8, 2016

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the selections for its Bus and Bus Facilities Grant Program that will help provide more modern, reliable bus service for transit riders across the country. Sixty-one projects will receive a share of nearly $211 million to replace, rehabilitate, and purchase transit buses and related equipment, and construct bus-related facilities. Many of the approved projects include the purchase of new natural gas-powered transit vehicles and the construction of natural gas fueling and maintenance facilities.

“These grants will improve mobility for thousands of transit riders who depend on bus service every day, expanding access to employment, education, healthcare, and other important services in their communities,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.

Demand for FTA’s Bus Program far exceeded available funds, as FTA received 284 applications totaling $1.64 billion from 236 applicants. Project proposals were evaluated based on criteria outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity, with priority given to projects that address significant repair and maintenance needs, improve the safety of transit systems, and include advanced technologies to connect bus systems with other networks.

CNG-related projects selected to receive 2016 Bus Program funding:

AL – $405,000 – Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority

The Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority will receive funds to purchase a new CNG bus for service in the Birmingham, Alabama region.

AR – $1,653,498 – Central Arkansas Transit Authority (dba Rock Region METRO)

The Central Arkansas Transit Authority in Little Rock will receive funding to purchase CNG buses to replace vehicles that have met their useful life.

CA – $10,500,000 – Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) will receive funding for the replacement of buses that have met their useful life with CNG buses to operate in the South Bay LA area. LACMTA will also install related CNG infrastructure and train workers on the new technology.

CA – $695,088 – Sacramento Regional Transit District

Sacramento Regional Transit District will receive funding to replace buses that have met their useful life with new CNG-fueled buses.

CA – $400,000 – Sacramento Regional Transit District

Sacramento Regional Transit District will receive funding to replace CNG fueling equipment at a bus maintenance facility.

FL – $4,273,771 – Hillsborough Transit Authority

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) will receive funding to purchase CNG buses to replace diesel buses that have reached the end of their useful life.

IL – $391,000 – Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (Metrolink)

The Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (Metrolink) will receive funding to replace diesel buses that have exceeded their useful life with CNG buses.

MI – $12,800,000 – Mass Transportation Authority

The Mass Transportation Authority will receive funding for the purchase of CNG transit buses for Flint and a workforce development training program for mechanics and drivers.

NE – $2,424,240 – Transit Authority of the City of Omaha (Metro)

The Transit Authority of the City of Omaha (Metro) will receive funding to purchase new CNG buses and partner with local community and workforce development centers to integrate public transit into the local workforce development experience.

OK – $1,932,000 – Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority

The Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority will receive funding to purchase new CNG replacement buses for their fixed route service in Oklahoma City.

PA – $2,040,000 – River Valley Transit

River Valley Transit will receive funding to purchase new CNG replacement buses in Williamsport.

 

NGVAmerica 28^th Annual Meeting & Industry Summit Held in Denver

September 12, 2016

Last week, nearly 300 natural gas vehicle industry leaders gathered in Denver for NGVAmerica’s 28^th Annual Meeting and Industry Summit. Participants heard from a variety of speakers, including insight on the year’s big industry mergers and perspectives on the current and future NGV sales market.  Other topics included an update on the 2016 fall elections, innovation in the broader automotive industry, and provocative insight on the future of America’s energy security.

NGVAmerica’s State Advocacy and Technology & Development Committees also met in Denver. They hosted workshops on growing the market for LNG and explaining how the Volkswagen settlement may bring new funding opportunities for natural gas vehicles.

Additional workshops were presented around messaging the strong environmental benefits of NGVs, including case studies from some of America’s largest shippers and logistics companies.  Other presenters discussed future NGV innovation, opportunities to get more light-duty vehicles in the market, technology advancements with refueling infrastructure, and the growing use of renewable natural gas (RNG).

NGV Achievement Awards were presented to former NGVAmerica Chair, Ron Eickelman; Former ATA CEO, Bill Graves; Sheehy Mail Contractors; Dean Foods; and Matheson Trucking.

All presentations from the conference will be available to NGVAmerica members.  An email with details for accessing the presentations will be sent later this week.

NGVAmerica would like to thank all of the sponsors of this year’s event, including the 2016 Presenting Sponsors: Trillium CNG, Agility Fuel Systems; Clean Energy Fuels, Penske Truck Leasing, and Hexagon Composites.

 

NGVAmerica Honors Recipients of the 2016 NGV Achievement Awards

September 8, 2016

NGVAmerica presented the 2016 NGV Achievement Awards as part of the 2016 NGVAmerica Annual Meeting and Industry Summit being held at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center in Denver, Colorado. The presentation of awards took place throughout the day and was attended by industry leaders from across the country that gathered to honor this year’s recipients.

The NGV Achievement Awards recognize national innovators and early adopters for their outstanding leadership, vision and innovation to advance natural gas as a transportation fuel.

Through a rigorous process, NGVAmerica identifies industry advocates for their contributions to further grow the natural gas vehicle (NGV) industry.

The recipients of the 2016 NGV Achievement Awards:

• Dean Foods — Outstanding CNG Fleet Program
• Ron Eickelman — Lifetime Achievement Award
• Governor Bill Graves — Lifetime Achievement Award
• Matheson Trucking, Inc. — LNG & CNG Fleet Program
• Sheehy Mail Contractors, Inc. — NGV Advocacy & Fleet Implementation Program

The recipients of the 24^th Annual NGV Achievement Awards are now part of a select group of leaders that have had the greatest impact on advancing the NGV industry.

“The NGV Achievement Awards provide an important opportunity to recognize the contributions and accomplishments of our industry’s leaders,” said NGVAmerica President Matthew Godlewski. “The vision, leadership and hard work of this year’s recipients has had a significant impact on the advancement of the NGV industry and is helping others to realize the environmental and economic benefits of using clean-burning natural gas as a transportation fuel.”

 

NGVAmerica’s Godlewski Joining Boone Pickens & FedEx’s Fred Smith for NGV Webinar September 19

September 12, 2016

NGVAmerica President Matthew Godlewski will be participating in a webinar to discuss the significant advancements that have been made in recent years to further the strong value proposition of natural gas as a transportation fuel.  He will be joining industry pioneer T. Boone Pickens and FedEx Chairman, President & CEO, Fred Smith for a one-hour session to promote the variety of benefits of heavy-duty natural gas vehicles.

The webinar is sponsored by Transport Topics and is being hosted by Chris Spear, the new President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations (ATA).  It is designed to promote a longer NGV educational session that will take place next month at the ATA Management Conference in Las Vegas.

The webinar will be broadcast on the Transport Topics website (www.ttnews.com) at 12:00 Noon ET on Monday, September 19, 2016.

 

Missouri School District Receives 19 Thomas Built CNG-Powered School Buses

September 6, 2016

Blue Springs R-IV School District, located in Blue Springs, Missouri, has purchased 19 Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG school buses from Thomas Built Buses. Blue Springs is now the second district to add Thomas Built Type C CNG school buses in its fleet.

“Over the past 13 years, our fuel costs have increased 213 percent,” said Steve Brown, transportation director for Blue Springs R-IV School District. “By incorporating compressed natural gas in our fleet, we hope to not only reduce fuel costs, but also to reduce our emissions.”

Thomas Built Buses’ Saf-T-Liner C2 CNG, the first Type C CNG in the industry and features the Cummins Westport ISB6.7 G 6.7L natural gas engine and an Allison 2000 series transmission. It is CARB-certified, meets CARB’s optional low oxides of nitrogen (NOx) standard of 0.1g/bhp-hr and meets EPA 2016 emissions and 2017 EPA greenhouse gas requirements.

 

PennDOT Joins Transit Authority for CNG Station Ground Breaking

September 7, 2016

PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation, Toby Fauver joined Cambria County Transit Authority (CamTran) Executive Director Rose Lucey-Noll, Board Chairman Ed Cernic, Jr. and state and local officials to break ground for a new CNG fueling station in Johnstown.

“PennDOT expects transit agencies like CamTran and the department to see significant savings due to initiatives like the one we’ve witnessed today,” said Fauver. “Through these savings, transit agencies’ sustainability is increased and dependency on state operational subsidies is reduced.”

Earlier this year it was announced that Trillium CNG team, which includes Larson Design Group of Williamsport, had been selected for the $84.5 million P3 project. CamTran is the most recent agency to benefit from the P3 project.

“This is the final piece of modernization in public transportation in Cambria County,” commented Ed Cernic, Jr., CamTran board chairman. “By adding the CNG fueling station CamTran will be able to operate more efficiently and see an increased efficiency in fuel use.”

The construction is estimated to start the third week of September, and will be a 10 week build. The station will be open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

 

Sacramento County Switching to RNG for LNG-Powered Trucks

September 6, 2016

​​Sacramento County announced it will begin fueling its fleet of LNG-powered trucks with cleaner-burning renewable natural gas (RNG). The county has signed a multi-year contract with Applied LNG for the fuel at a significant discount.

“We are extremely proud that Sacramento County is diversifying its fleet fuel portfolio with 100 percent renewable LNG as part of the broader effort to reduce GHG emissions”, said Phil Serna, County Supervisor for District 1 and member of the California Air Resources Board​.​ “This brings our renewable fuel consumption for our entire fleet to more than 50 percent.”

Applied’s renewable LNG is produced by BP Energy from bio-methane extracted from a landfill​. This bio-methane is combusted as renewable gas resulting in greenhouse gas releases that the County says are approximately 21 times less potent than methane released directly into the atmosphere.

The race toward carbon free fuel has been championed by CARB and the EPA’s ‘’renewable fuel standard’’ which have both encouraged an increase in the volume of renewable fuels used in transportation.  The credits generated from the use of renewable fuels have driven down the fuel costs, making renewable energy sources often a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

 

U.S. DOE Co-Optima Webinar to Be Held This Week

September 12, 2016

As part of the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines initiative, the Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office invites those interested to join a webinar on Wednesday, September 14, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

The “Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima)—National Lab Project Overview” webinar will provide an in-depth overview of the Co-Optima National Lab Consortium Project. Speakers will discuss co-optimization efforts for nearer-term advanced spark-ignition engine and longer-term advanced compression-ignition engine technologies. This will include information on the methodology used to select fuel candidates, ongoing simulation and experimental research, and efforts to identify and address deployment opportunities and challenges. Experts will be available to answer questions following the webinar.

The Co-Optima initiative aims to simultaneously transform both transportation fuels and vehicles in order to maximize performance and energy efficiency, minimize environmental impact, and accelerate widespread adoption of innovative combustion strategies.

This R&D collaboration between the U.S. DOE, nine national laboratories, and industry is a first-of-its-kind effort to combine biofuels and combustion R&D, building on decades of advances in both fuels and engines.

Register for the webinar here.

 

New Global Brand Gas4Sea Enters LNG Bunkering Market

September 6, 2016

In 2014, ENGIE, Mitsubishi Corporation, and NYK concluded a framework agreement for a partnership to develop LNG bunkering services. By combining NYK’s shipping expertise with ENGIE and Mitsubishi Corporation’s LNG supply portfolio and terminal access under the brand Gas4Sea, the partners will offer a cleaner, reliable, safe, and cost-effective service to shipping customers worldwide.

The partners will begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2016, using a purpose-built LNG bunkering vessel (LBV) with a 176,573 cu. ft. LNG capacity, the first of its kind in the market. It will be able to bunker vessels at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, as well as other nearby ports.

“We believe LNG has a key role to play in developing a more sustainable shipping activity,” said Philip Olivier, CEO of ENGIE Global LNG. “In the coming months, we will start supplying United European Car Carriers’ new dual fuel car carriers operating in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.”

The partners will expand their LNG bunkering services under Gas4Sea to meet more customers’ needs into other regions, in collaboration with stakeholders including shipping companies, port authorities, terminal operators, regional suppliers, and local governments and regulators.