NGVAmerica News Week in Review: July 31, 2017
- EDCO Invests in New Near Zero Emission Vehicles
- Virginia Achieves Milestone in Transitioning Vehicles to Alternative Fuels
- X3Energy Holds Grand Opening of 10th CNG Station in Colorado
- Trillium to Build CNG Station for Los Angeles Waste Hauler
- Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Celebrates Opening of CNG Station in York County
- Grand Rapids to Rolls Out Michigan’s Largest Fleet of CNG Buses
- TruStar Energy Launches New Compact Fuel Solution Program
- Clean Energy’s Compression Division Sells 16 Compressors Madrid Transit Agency
EDCO Invests in New Near Zero Emission Vehicles
July 27, 2017
EDCO is taking delivery of 25 new near zero (NZ) natural gas powered collection vehicles and placing them into service as part of its fleet. EDCO is deploying the new natural gas vehicles to further reduce its environmental foot print by limiting nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions, the primary generator of air pollution. EDCO’s will be some of the first collection vehicles to operate in the State of California.
The NOx emissions are 90 percent less than 2010 standards, and the NZ technology meets the State of California 2023 NOx and 2031 petroleum reduction goals. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) identifies that the NZ engine emissions are equivalent to a 100 percent battery powered vehicle using electricity from a modern natural gas power plant.
EDCO is transitioning to renewable natural gas (RNG) powered fleet, with over 200 trucks now in service. “We are very excited to add Near Zero engines to our RNG powered fleet, which will further reduce emissions in the region,” said Steve South, President and Chief Executive Officer of EDCO. South went on to state that, “EDCO anticipates that the RNG powered Near Zero engines will become a recognized component of Climate Action Plans throughout the region.”
Virginia Achieves Milestone in Transitioning Vehicles to Alternative Fuels
July 26, 2017
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that 319 state and local government vehicles have been transitioned to natural gas and other alternative fuels in the Commonwealth. This announcement exceeds the Governor’s 300 vehicle goal by the end of the Administration and is a major milestone in the progress toward a low-carbon clean fuel alternatives Virginia.
Governor McAuliffe also awarded Chesterfield County with the Governor’s Green Fleet Award for its leadership in the alternative fuels transition by implementing 50 vehicles and five advanced fueling stations that allow state and local vehicles to visit and refuel. Alternative fuel vehicles are identified as methods of reducing greenhouse gases and other pollution and their use over traditional vehicles supports clean air.
“These vehicles reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, cut down on gasoline costs and support our Commonwealth’s growing alternative fuels industry, leading to job growth here at home and more sustainable transportation solutions,” said Governor McAuliffe. “This is a great step forward and we will continue to work to make Virginia’s the cleanest and most innovative vehicle fleet in the nation.”
The Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) and the Department of General Services (DGS) supported this goal by establishing the public-private contracts that made possible the installation of natural gas infrastructure and the purchase of vehicle conversions. These contracts, combined with DGS contracts for new CNG and other alternative fuel vehicles, paved the way for state agencies and local public bodies to have easy access to alternative fuel solutions.
“This is important because Virginia produces nearly no oil and has an economic and environmental opportunity to transition to cleaner domestic fuels.” said Alleyn Harned, Executive Director of Virginia Clean Cities. “Propane and natural gas and electricity are low-cost alternative fuels, often representing cost savings as much as $1 per gallon”
In 2014, Governor McAuliffe unveiled the Virginia Energy Plan committing to accelerating the development of advanced vehicle technology and the use of alternative fuels for vehicles in the Commonwealth. The ultimate goal was to deploy at least 300 vehicles by the end of the Administration. Virginia exceeded this goal five months ahead of schedule and will continue to promote efforts to transition state and local government vehicles to alternative fuel through the remainder of the administration.
X3Energy Holds Grand Opening of 10th CNG Station in Colorado
July 26, 2017
X3CNG Colorado, following the recent agreement with Ward Alternative Energy, hosted the grand opening of its newest station in Greeley, Colorado. The station is X3CNG’s 10th CNG station in the state of Colorado.
“It is important for the industry and the State,” said X3Energy CEO Giovanni Baroni. “Greeley West is an important step forward for the diffusion of CNG as an alternative fuel in an area that produces natural gas, from the well to the wheels.”
The event was well attended by Weld County commissioners, Colorado Energy Office, Noble Energy, City of Greeley, Greeley Evans Transit and Clean City Coalition representatives. Curtis Reuter, Noble Energy CNG manager, described how the company holds a fleet of 110 CNG vehicles that will grow in the coming months.
Trillium to Build CNG Station for Los Angeles Waste Hauler
July 25, 2017
Athens Services, a waste-collection and recycling company based in Los Angeles County, recently selected Love’s Trillium CNG, part of the Love’s Family of Companies, to design, build and maintain a CNG station for its fleet of refuse haulers.
The company operates 229 CNG vehicles in various cities, and Athens Services has committed to converting more of its fleet to alternative fuel vehicles to provide service in the cleanest, quietest and most environmentally friendly manner possible. The partnership with Trillium CNG allows them to provide more service to Los Angeles residents.
“Partnering with Trillium to build a new CNG station was needed for Athens to provide the best service to certain zones in the city of Los Angeles,” said Marty Mitchell, director of maintenance for Athens Services. “The new station will allow our drivers to fuel in the most efficient way and avoid taking vehicles miles away to another fueling facility.”
The private station in Pacoima will provide CNG fuel to approximately 110 Athens Services refuse trucks. Construction is underway, and the station is scheduled to be complete this fall.
Trillium will procure RNG for use with the station. When combined with Cummins near-zero emissions CNG engines, the use of RNG significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Trillium partnered with Athens Services on two other CNG stations in Irwindale and La Puente. Trillium owns 10 CNG stations in California, and operates an additional 31 stations.
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Celebrates Opening of CNG Station in York County
July 28, 2017
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf helped celebrate the opening of a new CNG station at a Shipley Energy fleet fueling facility in Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania. The CNG station, located at the intersection of Interstate 83 and Route 30, is a partnership between Shipley Energy of York and Clean Energy Fuels Corp of California. The CNG station and five Shipley Energy CNG fleet vehicles received nearly $600,000 in state incentives.
“Using CNG to power vehicles for business fleets is not only environmentally smart, it also makes strong economic sense for the companies that take advantage of this Pennsylvania resource,” said Governor Wolf at the ribbon cutting. “Projects like this enable Pennsylvanians to benefit from our tremendous natural gas resources which has significant impact on the commonwealth’s economic well-being and creates jobs.”
Shipley Energy, which owns the fueling station, received a $181,000 grant through the Natural Gas Energy Development Program from the Department of Environmental Protection to help with the cost of switching five fleet vehicles to cleaner-burning CNG. The commonwealth has invested more than $13.8 million to reimburse grantees statewide for the purchase or conversion of 713 heavy duty vehicles, displacing over 8.9 million GGEs per year.
Clean Energy Fuels, which operates similar facilities across North America, received a $409,523 grant through the Alternative and Clean Energy (ACE) Program from the Commonwealth Financing Authority for construction of the pumps. The authority has approved 46 CNG and LNG station projects through the program since 2013 for a total investment of nearly $25 million.
The Alternative Fuel Incentive Grants (AFIG), awarded by the Department of Environmental Protections, has provided $10.6 million to 91 awardees to support the purchase or conversion for light and medium duty natural gas vehicles as well as propane and electric fleet vehicles of any size. The program has disbursed $3.8 million for the purchase or conversion of 563 vehicles, displacing over 1.7 million gasoline gallon equivalents per year.
Additionally, the Department of Transportation launched an innovative public private partnership mechanism to expand CNG fueling stations for transit agencies. When completed these CNG fueling stations will supply gas to more than 1,600 CNG buses at participating transit agencies, and will be open to the public.
Grand Rapids to Rolls Out Michigan’s Largest Fleet of CNG Buses
July 31, 2016
The Rapid and the City of Grand Rapids unveiled a new plan to roll out what will become Michigan’s largest fleet of environmentally friendly buses and that will soon be servicing downtown and greater Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The new buses will operate on clean-burning CNG instead of diesel. Bus riders will see 33 of the alternative fuel vehicles in 2017, including 28 in service for The Rapid on bus lines throughout Greater Grand Rapids and five for the City’s free DASH shuttle service in Downtown operated by The Rapid.
Plans call for The Rapid’s 150-vehicle fleet to include 92 CNG buses by 2021, which will make up Michigan’s largest system of natural gas-powered buses. The City plans to purchase an additional four CNG vehicles in 2018 for the DASH and replace its entire fleet of diesel-fueled DASH buses over the next three years.
“This investment demonstrates an important collaboration of innovative partners within our community, using the most sustainable, clean, cost-effective and safe products on the market for transportation solutions,” said Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, during a news conference at the city’s Sixth Street Bridge Park, where the new buses were on display.
In 2015, The Rapid board approved a $13 million contract funded entirely through federal and state grants to buy 28 40-foot-long CNG buses. The acquisition funds came from a $10.4 million Federal Transit Administration grant, as well as a $2.6 million grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
The Grand Rapids City Commission approved the $2.3 million purchase of five 35-foot-long DASH CNG buses entirely with local funds. Both orders are through Gillig, a leading bus manufacturer based in California.
TruStar Energy Launches New Compact Fuel Solution Program
July 24, 2017
TruStar Energy, one of the nation’s leading developers of CNG fueling stations, has launched their Compact Fuel Solution and CNG Fleet Development Program (CFS Program). TruStar’s CFS Program provides smaller fleets the ability to gain the benefits of CNG fuel and fleets fueling at public CNG stations the ability to lower their costs.
“We are excited for the launch of our CFS Program,” said Adam Comora, President of TruStar Energy LLC. “Our CFS Program was designed to address the needs of smaller fleets, pilot programs for larger fleets and those looking to improve their current public fueling experience.”
with all TruStar fueling programs, renewable CNG is available with its CFS program for additional sustainability and cost savings benefits.
Clean Energy’s Compression Division Sells 16 Compressors Madrid Transit Agency
July 25, 2017
Clean Energy Fuels says that its compression unit has signed an agreement with Seranco, S.A. for 16 Clean Energy Clean CNG 2.0 300HP compressors at three Empresa Municipal de Madrid (EMT) fueling facilities throughout the city.
Currently, EMT operates approximately 2,000 buses, which includes 500 that are fueled with CNG. Last month, EMT and the City Council of Madrid approved the purchase of an additional 200 CNG buses in 2017, to go along with the purchase of 400 made in 2016. The transit agency has a goal of making their entire fleet ‘clean’ by 2019. EMT announced it would continue to purchase CNG buses because they reduce pollutant emissions by 70 percent in relation to diesel – and complies with the strictest European emission regulations.
In December, the city of Madrid joined Paris, Athens and Mexico City in laying out plans to ban diesel from their cities by the year 2025. Madrid already plans to ban cars from 500 acres of its city center by 2020.
“We are proud to perform this project, this will be the first step to improve the air quality of Madrid City in the next years,” said Santiago Garrido, CEO of Gas & Go. “We hope many other cities will join this process increasing their commitment with the environment.”
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