Natural gas-powered transportation has a new hub in British Columbia (BC) as the first public access CNG fueling station opened in Kelowna. This station expands the province’s CNG network and will help enable fleet operators to easily travel from the Lower Mainland to the Interior without worrying about refueling.
“Having fleets adopt natural gas helps the province meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals, and improves air quality in the communities in which they operate,” said Sarah Smith, director of NGT, regional LNG and biomethane with FortisBC. “By providing fleet owners and operators incentives to adopt natural gas, we’re reinforcing our position as an active partner and leader in reducing GHG emissions in BC while also reducing costs for our customers.”
Also on the site is the fueling station for Environmental 360 Solutions Incorporated (E360S) – a waste-hauling organization who picks up residential curbside garbage and delivers it to the Glenmore Landfill, which is one of the many landfills who provide the organic waste that FortisBC uses to produce renewable natural gas. E360S will fuel its fleet of waste haulers from a dedicated fueling system on site while public access will be available for anyone to use, 24 hours a day. By adopting CNG, E360S will reduce their GHG emissions by 25% each year. This is based on the minimum contracted amount of fuel from the station.
“E360S is dedicated to becoming North America’s most trusted environmental company and we are proud to partner with FortisBC to provide the first public access CNG fueling station in this region,” said Danny Ardellini, founder and CEO with E360S. “The fueling station and our Kelowna CNG fleet are statements of our commitment to the environment and to reducing GHG emissions.”
The new station also adds tremendous value to the community and is ideally located to fuel medium to large CNG vehicles in the area. This project, also made possible by funding from Natural Resources Canada, is the latest in a series of projects in partnership with the city of Kelowna. “This is an important investment in the city, one that contributes to our economy while also providing transportation companies with an option to lower carbon emissions,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran.
Source: Fortis BC
