California Energy Commission awards almost USD 10 million

Regarding the natural gas-powered vehicle supplying, there is a USD 500,000 grant to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System to help it speed the refuelling of its growing fleet of nearly 200 CNG buses. The grant will allow the transit system to install larger, higher capacity fuelling compressors that will cut in half the time needed to serve a CNG bus at its South Bay Maintenance Facility.

Furthermore, the new equipment will allow Metropolitan Transit to introduce 40 CNG new buses into its fleet and improve its ability to meet federal and state air quality standards. The Federal Transit Administration will also provide $1,176,000 for the San Diego project.

On the other hand, the Commission will award USD 1,900,000 to the City of San Jose to build and demonstrate a new system that turns waste into natural gas that can be used as a transportation fuel. The project team, which includes international biomass gasification specialists, will provide USD 4,214,624 in match funding to create a facility to produce methane at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant.

The resulting transportation fuel could save San Jose USD 450,000 a year by using natural gas in its vehicles, while the project is expected to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 1,600 tons of CO2 annually. In addition, approximately 15 construction jobs will be created by the demonstration project.