GE (NYSE: GE) and Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq: CLNE) today
announced a collaboration to expand the infrastructure for natural
gas transportation in the United States. The agreement supports
Clean Energy’s efforts in developing “America’s Natural Gas
Highway®,” a fueling network that will enable trucks to operate on
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) coast to coast and border to border.
Truck fleets often can reduce fuel costs by more than 25 percent
and lower emissions with LNG.
GE’s MicroLNG plant can liquefy natural
gas at any point along a gas distribution network, making it ideal
for supporting the fueling of vehicles in remote locations by
reducing the impact of long distance fuel transport. (Photo:
Business Wire)
As part of the collaboration, Clean Energy Fuels will initially
purchase two ecomagination™-qualified MicroLNG plants from GE Oil
& Gas. The plug-and-play modular units, which are designed to
rapidly liquefy natural gas while minimizing a site’s physical
footprint, will support fueling stations along critical
transportation corridors that run across the U.S. Further
underscoring GE’s commitment to expanding natural gas
transportation infrastructure, GE Energy Financial Services is
providing up to $200 million in financing for the two GE MicroLNG
plants.
“GE is proud to be partnering with Clean Energy Fuels to develop
natural gas infrastructure in the U.S. Clean Energy is an industry
leader in pioneering a new way for America to fuel its vehicles and
to further gain energy independence,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff
Immelt. “With an abundance of cleaner, more affordable natural gas
here in the U.S., this is an important opportunity for GE to join
Clean Energy in changing the way America drives. It’s also a
critical step in developing a natural gas-for-transportation fuel
model that can be easily exported to other countries interested in
exactly these kinds of breakthrough projects.”
Clean Energy expects to complete approximately 70 LNG stations
by the end of 2012, with more planned for next year to serve the
movement of goods along major transportation corridors throughout
the U.S. While CNG, or compressed natural gas, is primarily used in
cars, buses and smaller trucks, the LNG fueling being rolled out at
Clean Energy’s stations is targeted at long-haul, heavy-duty
trucks, which will have the advantage of longer driving ranges
while not impacting tractor weight and incremental costs. In 2013,
four major manufacturers will introduce the Cummins Westport
12-liter LNG engine, which is the optimum size for long-haul Class
8 trucks.
Clean Energy plans to use a standardized design of the new GE
MicroLNG plants to build additional MicroLNG plants. These first
two MicroLNG plants will produce up to 250,000 gallons per day. The
plant is designed to be expanded up to 1 million gallons per day as
adoption and demand increases. The LNG produced by the MicroLNG
plants will be used primarily at Pilot-Flying J truck stops that
serve truckers across the country. The two GE MicroLNG plants are
targeted to begin operation in 2015. The two companies are
currently assessing the best locations for these first two LNG
plants.
“The agreement announced today with GE is one of the most
significant milestones in Clean Energy’s history,” said Andrew J.
Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy Fuels. “As the
long-haul trucking industry begins its transition to natural gas,
it will be critical to have a reliable supply of LNG. No other
company is as uniquely qualified as GE to help address this need
due to its vast experience in energy, technology innovations and
financing capabilities. GE partnering with Clean Energy on these
two facilities will not only help ensure an adequate LNG supply for
our stations, but it is another confirmation that the transition to
natural gas as a transportation fuel is gaining momentum.”
Natural gas is an abundant, reliable and cleaner-burning source
of energy for consumers and commercial users. Clean Energy Fuels
and GE are promoting the importance of natural gas to the U.S.
economy, enabling energy independence and decreasing CO2
emissions—in this case, by enabling long-haul trucks and fleets to
move from diesel to cleaner, more efficient and readily available
domestic natural gas.
“GE is committed to natural gas. From extraction to transport to
power generation—we continue to develop solutions that infuse new
technologies into the value chain and help improve every step of
the natural gas development and deployment life cycle,” said Dan
Heintzelman, president and CEO of GE Oil & Gas. “Our
ecomagination-qualified MicroLNG plant was born from the same
turbomachinery technology that has made GE a success in large LNG
compression such as in the world-scale plants in Qatar and
Australia. By taking this technology and reengineering it so that
it’s modular and highly efficient, we are able to help customers
such as Clean Energy deliver this abundant and cleaner fuel source
to the market.”
GE’s MicroLNG plant can liquefy natural gas at any point along a
gas distribution network, making it ideal for supporting the
fueling of vehicles in remote locations by reducing the impact of
long distance fuel transport. This MicroLNG technology is part of
GE’s expanding technology offerings in the natural
gas-for-transportation sector.
The new GE MicroLNG system that will be used by Clean Energy
will produce 250,000 gallons of LNG per day, or about 54 million
DGEs (diesel gallon equivalents) per year with the built-in
capability for further expansion, which is a 67 percent increase
over the capacity of the breakthrough MicroLNG plant that GE Oil
& Gas first introduced in January of 2012. The new system will
help reduce a fleet operator’s fuel costs by more than 25 percent
compared to diesel fuel. LNG produced with this MicroLNG system can
be used to fuel approximately 28,000 heavy trucks, replacing
diesel-powered trucks with equivalent fuel economy. This could
enable fleet operators to avoid more than 139,000 metric tons of
CO2e emissions per year, equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas
emissions of approximately 27,000 cars using gasoline or 7,000
trucks using diesel on U.S. roads—assuming an average truck travels
approximately 14,000 miles per year.
GE also is providing turnkey process/plant construction and
consultations on optimal plant location and power partner. The
scope of the agreement also includes project installation. It
entails not only the liquefaction but also the complete process
design from the pre-treatment of the gas to the storage system.
Ecomagination is GE’s commitment to providing innovative
solutions that maximize resources, drive economic performance and
help make the world work better.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and
the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding
solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance.
Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just
imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the
company's website at www.ge.com.
About GE Oil & Gas
GE Oil & Gas is a world leader in advanced technology
equipment and services for all segments of the oil and gas
industry, from drilling and production, LNG, pipelines and storage
to industrial power generation, refining and petrochemicals. GE Oil
& Gas also provides pipeline integrity solutions, including
inspection and data management, and designs and manufactures
wire-line and drilling measurement solutions for the oilfield
services segment.
As part of its customer focus and commitment, GE Oil & Gas
exploits technological innovation from other GE businesses, such as
aviation and healthcare, to continuously improve oil and gas
industry performance and productivity. GE Oil & Gas employs
more than 35,000 people worldwide and operates in more than 100
countries.
Follow GE Oil & Gas on Twitter @GE_OilandGas.
About Clean Energy Fuels
Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the largest provider of natural
gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in
the expanding natural gas vehicle fueling market. We have
operations in compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural
gas (LNG) vehicle fueling and construction and operation of natural
gas fueling stations. Wholly-owned subsidiaries include BAF
Technologies, which provides natural gas vehicle systems and
conversions for taxis, vans, pick-up trucks and shuttle buses; IMW
Industries, Ltd., which supplies CNG equipment for vehicle fueling
and industrial applications worldwide; NorthStar, which supplies
LNG and liquefied to compressed natural gas fueling system
technologies and equipment, station construction and operations;
and Clean Energy Renewable Fuels (CERF), which develops renewable
natural gas (RNG), or biomethane, production facilities in the U.S.
For more information, visit www.cleanenergyfuels.com
“America’s Natural Gas Highway” is a trademark of Clean
Energy.ecomagination is a trademark of the General Electric
Company.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20121113005798/en/
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