Clean Energy Selected as Preferred Vendor for Cummins Facility Modifications
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has announced that it has been selected as a supplier to provide natural gas upgrades to facilities in Cummins Inc.’s distribution business unit across North America. This will allow Clean Energy to assist Cummins with their continued support for natural gas vehicle implementations.
Clean Energy’s Facility Modification Services (FMS) provides natural gas facility assessments and design/build services for the natural gas industry assisting customers in North America. The group works with public and private agencies to support their transition and opportunities the natural gas vehicle provide.
Clean Energy FMS is also installing its proprietary NGV Easy Bay for a Ryder System Inc. facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The NGV Easy Bay, the first code-compliant industrial fabric barrier system, is scalable and can accommodate a single bay isolation project, or be used to divide a large building into multiple bays. It is retractable for easy storage and can even be relocated to another facility.
The FMS team is also providing design and build services for three McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing facilities, and anticipates beginning construction in early 2017.
In addition to the expanding FMS business, Clean Energy announced the following agreements in the Trucking, Transit and Refuse sectors:
Trucking
- Midway Ford Truck Center, Inc. and Clean Energy held a ceremony on August 9th to open a compressed natural gas (CNG) station in Kansas City, Missouri. The station is adjacent to vehicle up-fitter businesses that will provide CNG conversions and vehicle equipment for Ford Commercial Trucks equipped with CNG-prepped gasoline engines, including Transit Van and F-150 pickup trucks which are both manufactured at the nearby Ford Assembly Plant.
- John Ruppert, director of commercial vehicle sales & marketing for Ford Motor Company, said that “for many of our commercial fleet customers, sustainability and alternative fuels has become a key component of their business plans. Having options like CNG provides them with choices in how they may choose to implement those plans.”
- Baldor Specialty Foods, one of the largest distributors of fresh produce and specialty foods in the North East, has begun making the transition to natural gas for its fleet after testing a CNG truck provided by Clean Energy. Headquartered in the Bronx, New York, Baldor saw the opportunity to operate the Class-8 CNG truck as a unique way to explore the benefits of fueling with natural gas first hand. Baldor will be fueling at Clean Energy’s National Grid station in Everett, Massachusetts.
- “We had been looking at natural gas for our fleet for some time, and the demo truck program was a perfect way for us to test it out,” said Steve Tufo, director of transportation. “After two weeks of operating the truck on a daily basis, the results were clear and we look forward to adding additional natural gas trucks to our fleet.”
- Clean Energy expanded its America’s Natural Gas Highway with a ribbon cutting ceremony in July to open a new CNG station in Conley, Georgia. Anchor Fleet G&P Trucking Company, and additional fleet representatives, were present to celebrate the occasion. The public liquefied natural gas (LNG) station is expected to dispense approximately 270,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) per year.
- In addition to opening truck-friendly stations, Clean Energy has added Davenport Transport, a United States Postal Service carrier based out of Blairsville, Georgia, to its list of trucking customers. Additionally, existing customer Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest baker in the United States, has recently added additional natural gas vehicles to its alternative-fuel fleet.
Transit
- The City of Santa Clarita has extended a 4 year agreement with Clean Energy for the operation & maintenance of the city’s CNG fueling stations, which represents approximately 1.3 million GGEs per year. The city has continued to expand their CNG fleet of more than 70 vehicles within the Transit Department, and has also expanded its CNG fleet in the pool and Public Works departments.
- Clean Energy has been awarded a construction agreement with the City of Culver City, California to replace and install new CNG equipment at the city’s Transportation Department. This project will enhance Culver City’s existing fueling facilities, and will support the continued success of their expanding CNG program of more than 100 CNG vehicles.
- Atlas Refuel has contracted with Clean Energy to build, own and operate a natural gas fueling station at San Jose International Airport. The public station will support airport and other fleets and is anticipated to dispense approximately 300,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE’s) per year.
- The Sacramento County Airport System has contracted with Clean Energy for a multi-year repair and maintenance agreement for its Sacramento International Airport station. Clean Energy will perform repairs and take over maintenance at the station which will fuel an anticipated 500,000 GGEs per year to airport and municipal vehicles.
- The Port of Oakland has extended Clean Energy’s ten-year operation & maintenance agreement for another five years with an additional five year option for the Oakland International Airport station. The station provides fueling services to the port authority’s natural gas fleet, as well to vehicles which service the airport.
- Clean Energy has been commissioned to construct a CNG station for the Kent School District in Kent, Washington. The station, which will also be maintained by Clean Energy, is expected to fuel 20 buses and distribute approximately 40,000 GGEs per year for the 4th largest school district in the state.
- Valley Metro, the regional public transportation agency for greater Phoenix, has extended a CNG station operations and maintenance agreement with Clean Energy for an additional 5 years. Such agreement covers Valley Metro’s Mesa facility and represents approximately 1.4 million GGEs per year. Clean Energy also operates and maintains Valley Metro’s Tempe natural gas fueling facility.
- Desert Sands Unified School District has awarded Clean Energy a three-year maintenance contract for its station in La Quinta, California. The station will support the district’s 40 CNG buses, which represents as much as 90,000 GGEs per year.
Refuse
- Homewood Disposal, a refuse company servicing over 12,500 commercial customers throughout Indiana and Illinois, held a ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday to unveil its new CNG fueling station in Homewood, Illinois. Clean Energy constructed, and will provide operations and maintenance services for the station, which includes 40 time-fill posts and will begin offering fueling to the general public next month.
- The City of Scottsdale has renewed its operations & maintenance contract with Clean Energy for an additional year. The station, which supports the city’s natural gas refuse fleet, dispenses over 300,000 GGEs per year.
- Republic Services, one of the nation’s largest refuse companies, opened a new CNG station in Wilsonville, Oregon on June 10th. The station, was built and will be operated and maintained by Clean Energy.
In addition to these projects, Clean Energy Fuels announced it obtained $19.5 million in grant funding during the second quarter of 2016. The grants, awarded by multiple states, provide funding to Clean Energy and its customers for 369 natural gas vehicles and a station construction project. The award includes a $1.4 million grant by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for Ruan Transportation Management Systems to purchase 27 CNG class-8 trucks. Ruan is one of the largest, family-owned transportation providers in the country and provides dedicated contract transportation and supply chain solutions to customers across the country.
Natural gas fuel costs less than gasoline or diesel, depending on local market conditions. The use of natural gas fuel also reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 21 percent and up to 90 percent with the use of renewable natural gas. In addition, nearly all natural gas consumed in North America is produced in North America.