Meeting Notes: April 10, 2014

Transcription

1 Western Slope CNG Collaborative c/o CLEER 520 S. Third Street Suite 17 Carbondale, CO (970) trans-cng-collaborative.html Meeting Notes: April 10, 2014 Attending by phone: Cabell Hodge Colorado Energy Office Maria Eisemann Northern Colorado Clean Cities Gregg Dubit 4CORE Kirk Swallow Swallow Oil Co. Tyler Svitak Denver Metro Clean Cities Kenny Osier RFTA, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Lou Wyman Craig area rancher Bob Rankin State Representative, District 57 Tom Jankovsky Garfield County Commissioner Natalie Shelbourn SourceGas Tom Pacheco Encana Natural Gas Inc. Nancy Genova Colorado Mountain College Rifle Campus Eric Beutz Columbine, Longmont & Freeway Ford Tanya Bierly San Juan National Forest John Gonzales AFV project leader, NREL Shayla Martin JW Power Co. Jason Farrington Monument Clean Fuels Chip Wertz Waste Management Inc. Jennifer detapia Trillium CNG 1. Reviewed March 13 meeting notes, no changes noted. 2. General comments: State Rep. Bob Rankin noted that he would be introducing a new bill allowing single-occupancy drivers of alternative fuel vehicles to use HOV lanes, using a sticker, decal or transponder system. (Senate Bill 200 was introduced on April 16. For details, visit 3. Presentation: John Gonzales, CNG Vehicle Tank Safety (303) / john.gonzales@nrel.gov John Gonzales is a project leader for advanced deployment of alternative fueled vehicles for the Clean Cities program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. He works with the Natural Gas Vehicle Technology Forum and is researching gaseous fuel storage equipment. He previously worked for Natural Fuels Corp. promoting natural gas, and later was the fleet manager for the Adams 12 Five Star School District.

2 John s presentation topics: Maintenance practices for CNG cylinders Cylinder end of life and disposal Know your fuel system installer Know your fuel station provider Cylinder maintenance There are videos showing cylinders being shot with a rifle, exposed to dynamite. Cylinders are not indestructible, but they are pretty stout. Cylinders should be inspected every three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. For larger trucks and refuse trucks, driving 30,000-40,000 miles a year, inspection needs to be done every year. Look for a blue sticker on cylinder from a CSA-certified inspector. It shows the last inspection date and mileage. It s found under the cover of the cylinder, or the vehicle owner can keep a log. Fleet owners need a tracking system so they know cylinders have been inspected by a certified inspector. If a CNG vehicle is in an accident or a fire, the cylinder must be inspected right away. Problems with CNG tanks are most common when the vehicle was in an accident but the cylinder wasn t inspected afterwards. Cylinder end of life and disposal Cylinders are built with a pre-determined life span of 15, 20 or 25 years. This is the defined life of the cylinder, whether it is on the road and in use or sitting on a shelf or in an idled vehicle. Codes and standards require the cylinder to be removed from service at the end of its life span. When you buy a CNG vehicle, make sure the cylinder's expiration date matches or exceeds the expected lifespan of the vehicle in years. When it s time to remove a cylinder, be sure to use a qualified person who knows about tank valves and how to drain the cylinder. Once the cylinder is removed and prior to disposal, it must be flushed with nitrogen and then have holes drilled in the tank so it can no longer be used. Know your fuel system installer (for conversions) Do your homework, obtain references on any upfitter you are considering. Know they are doing quality work and are here to stay, so they can respond top problems that may occur. Cylinders need to meet two key standards: o American National Standards Institute (ANSI) NGV o National Highway Transportation Safety Administration FMVSS 304 standard, which appears on a certification sticker as US DOT Type-2. Conversions must be done in accordance with National Fire Protection Association s NFPA 52 guidelines for conversions and installations. NFPA does not inspect conversions, so it s a good idea to ask the upfitter what guidelines they follow. They should say they are following NFPA 52, have a good working knowledge of that system. Verify that the upfitter is using the correctly rated components. We are seeing imported cylinders with valves rated at 3,000 psi, which don t meet the U.S. fueling standard of Meeting notes Western Slope CNG Collaborative April 10,

3 3,600 psi. Even some high-quality upfitters have been found to be using tanks with incorrect components. The customer needs to verify that the parts are for the rated system on the conversion. We are not seeing this problem on the OEM side. John showed a photo of a CNG truck conversion he did years ago, as an example of what NOT to do now. The cylinder has no protective cover, a safety measure that has been required since the late 1990s. Covers shield the cylinder from UV sunlight, road debris and shifting contents in the truck bed. Know your fuel station provider The fuel station is really a system. It s important for CNG customers to know that fuel stations are providing gas that will be compatible with their vehicle. Important items to ask about: What are the station maintenance practices? Is the dispenser pressure adjusted to compensate for changing temperatures? Cylinders are designed to be filled to 125% of working pressure, but if you do that on a very cold day and then bring the vehicle into a heated shop, that can result in an unsafe expansion of the gas. Is there moisture in the gas? Make sure the station has a good gas-dryer. Stations must be adequately sized right for the types of vehicles it serves. For example, is there adequate turnaround space for large trucks? Are the compressor and storage tanks sized right to provide an adequate fill in a short amount of time? Do electrical demand charges imposed by utilities impact the pump price? What is the pipeline s delivered gas pressure? Higher pipeline pressure can mean lower compression costs. Is there any oil carryover into the gas through the pipeline system? Does the station have a source of back-up power so it can continue to dispense fuel during a power outage? John showed a slide with photos of four different-sized fueling stations, including a large-scale facility that can handle semis, a multi-tank compressor system for very high-demand transit fleets, a fueling island with one pump and equipment in the ground for a second pump, and a small, time-fill station that dispenses about 4 GGE per hour. Q&A for John Gonzales Lou Wyman asked if expired cylinders can be recertified. John said they cannot. Mike Ogburn noted that CNG fueling station storage vessels can be lifetime certified, but not the vehicle cylinders. He said usually the vehicle is worn out by the time the tank reaches its expiration date. John said some transit buses are reaching 15 years of life, so manufacturers are building 20-year tanks for transit buses. Gregg Dubit asked about the certification process for tank inspectors. John said CSA has a training program for certification, and inspectors use a CSA checklist for the inspection. Kirk Swallow noted that Matt Hutchison of Garfield County Road & Bridge is a certified tank inspector. Meeting notes Western Slope CNG Collaborative April 10,

4 Tyler Svitak recommended CNG Elite Inspection Services of Las Vegas, Nev., an insured company that conducts on-site inspection nationwide. Eric Beutz said Columbine Ford in Rifle and Longmont Ford both have certified inspectors onsite. Kenny Osier asked about accidents that require a tank inspection. John said that s any accident in which the tank could have shifted. He saw a Ford shuttle van that had been rear-ended and the tanks were pushed and damaged. During fueling, it had a failure. If the vehicle gets lightly hit in front corner, you don t need to look at a tank that s in back. But if the vehicle gets hit near the tank, get an inspection. If the tank or fuel lines may have been impacted, the vehicle should be towed, not driven. Technically, if a CNG vehicle is ever in an accident, the tank should be inspected. Kenny Osier asked about carbon requirement specifications that fuel providers must meet, so vehicle owners are assured of getting clean, quality fuel without too much methane or propane. John said this is largely governed by pipeline specifications, although those specs are largely focused on sulphur and water content. The key is to know the fuel specs for the engine as set by the manufacturer, to form a knowledgeable basis for understanding alerts that might be issued by the pipeline company regarding changes in the composition of pipeline gas. For vehicle fuel, natural gas should contain no more than 2% propane. Added propane reduces the octane number for the fuel, which can cause problems in turbo-charged engines. For non-turbo engines, a lower octane rating is not as critical a problem. Kenny asked if a pipeline could ship out-of-spec gas that could be pumped into vehicles. John said this could happen. He explained that pipeline utilities use a gas chromatograph to assess pipeline gas substances. They make frequent chromatographs, and maintain records of these readings over time in case a problem comes up later. Kenny asked if there s been any thought to asking pipeline companies to notify automotive CNG suppliers when pipeline fuel gets out of spec. John said a CNG fueling station could install a gas chromatograph onsite, but that would be expensive and is very rare. He said traditionally, pipeline gas meets the specs for automotive uses. Jennifer detapia noted that some CNG customers do experience out-of-spec gas when the gas has been pulled from a storage facility, or when utilities deliberately inject propane to maintain pipeline gas pressure, a practice called peak-shaving. This happens in Washington, D.C., Jennifer said, but there is also a rigid notification system to alert fueling station operators. Kenny said Cummins has raised the gas quality issue. He said for natural gas to move to an automotive application, operators need fuel quality that is not called into question. 4. State Government Update Colorado Energy Office (CEO), Cabell Hodge CEO will be calling the fueling station part of the state CMAQ grant the Alternative Fuels Colorado Grants Program. Although CEO s contract with the Colorado Department of Transportation is not yet finalized, CEO expects to open its application process in late April or Meeting notes Western Slope CNG Collaborative April 10,

5 early May. The grant application period will be for 30 days, and the window for grant applications is planned to be open once every six months, The Regional Air Quality Council will be handling vehicle grants, which will be offered in the Front Range non-attainment area. It s expected those grants will be offered in August. House Bill 1326, Tax Credits for Alternative Fuel Trucks, is moving through the House. It raises the tax credit cap to $20,000 for heavy-duty vehicles, $15,000 for medium-duty vehicles, $7,500 for light-duty trucks, and $6,000 for passenger cars. The bill has passed two House committees and moving ahead. The whole bill is fiscally positive, according to Colorado Legislative Council s Fiscal Note. By narrowing an existing sales and use tax exemption and by reducing the taxable value of certain vehicles, HB 1326 is projected to put $2.7 million back in state coffers in the and fiscal years. The proposed tax credit is a fully refundable state tax credit, so the credit applies even if the vehicle buyer doesn t have a tax liability. The tax credit can be applied to multiple vehicles purchased by a single buyer. 5. Fuel providers update: comments, technical issues Jason Farrington, Monument Clean Fuels in Grand Junction, reported that sales are picking up a little. Some new state fleet vehicles came on line in the last couple months, and a few more personal vehicles are showing up. The community is still looking for second location for a fueling station as a backup. Tom Pacheco had no update on Encana s Parachute station. Lou Wyman was no longer on the call to report on station development efforts in the Craig area. Kirk Swallow reported that sales volume for March at the Rifle Shell CNG station climbed to 2,600 GGE, and the first nine days of April totaled 950 GGE. If that rate continues, the station will hit 3,000 or more GGE for the month, and things will look a little better. Bill Barrett Corp., a natural gas developer that had said it would deploy CNG vehicles in the Rifle area, but pulled out in 2012, now says it plans to return and drill 127 wells. Barrett had committed to having 35 CNG trucks on the road by Auto dealers update: Vehicle availability & reliability, servicing capacity Eric Beutz reported that the new CNG-capable shop facilities at Columbine Ford in Rifle are up and running, and invited everyone to come and see it. The dealership s front side is still being remodeled, so it still looks like a construction site from the street. There is usually a CNG vehicle in the shop for servicing most days, so the dealership is using the expertise of its service staff. Columbine also has CNG vehicles on the lot for sale. Tom Pacheco reported that Encana was very happy with the cold weather performance of the OEM CNG vehicles in Encana s fleet this past winter. If this performance record is an indicator of where the auto industry is going with CNG models, he anticipates very little problem with trucks in cold weather. Meeting notes Western Slope CNG Collaborative April 10,

6 7. Oil and gas industry update on CNG adoption No one was on the call to address this topic. 8. Refuel Colorado Fleets update Matt Shmigelsky reported that Garfield Clean Energy had a successful presentation to the Grand Junction Chamber s Energy Committee and a Kick-the-Tires event for fleets on March 12. The event generated a lot of news coverage, and The Daily Sentinel published a pro-cng editorial the following Sunday. Gregg Dubit reported that 4CORE is trying to collect vehicle pledge forms and assessing regional demand for station in Durango. Working into it backwards based on sales of 20,000 GGE/month, that means about 150 light vehicles need to be deployed. However, 4CORE is not getting a lot of responses. Anyone who is interested in CNG in La Plata or Montezuma counties can contact him at Gregg@fourcore.org or (970) ext Maria Eisemann reported that rancher Lou Wyman is interested in putting a station in Craig area. He owns land along the highway, and a high pressure gas line runs along the road. Maria invited everyone to attend a conference call featuring a speaker from the Colorado Department of Revenue on the existing alternative fuel vehicle tax credits and the new credits proposed under HB The call is at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 28. Please RSVP to Maria to get the call-in number: marianccc@comcast.net 9. Next meeting date: Thursday, May 8, 2014, 2:00 p.m. NOTE: For the time being, the Western Slope CNG Collaborative meetings will be by conference call only. Conference call: (712) / access code Meeting notes Western Slope CNG Collaborative April 10,