ECUA, City Unveil Escambia’s First Natural Gas Filling Station

October 4, 2012

Escambia County’s first compressed natural gas fueling station was unveiled Wednesday.

The $1.8 million CNG station at 6722 Pine Forest Road was a joint project between the City of Pensacola, Pensacola Energy (formerly Energy Services of Pensac0la) and ECUA. It will serve over 80 natural gas vehicles operated by the City, ECUA and Escambia County. Pensacola Energy is also actively marketing the station to corporate fleets, with plans to open the station to the general public in the future.

“This station marks a new day for the City of Pensacola, Pensacola Energy, and ECUA,” said Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward. “In this era of budget constraints, those of us in
government must continually look for opportunities to generate non-tax revenue and  work together to improve our operations. These cleaner-burning natural gas vehicles will cost less to fuel and maintain, leaving more dollars for vital City services. I want to thank the city council and ECUA board for their support of this initiative.”

Officials said natural gas-powered vehicles have substantially lower fuel and maintenance costs than vehicles using gasoline or diesel fuel. While the national average for a gallon of diesel fuel has topped $4, a diesel gallon equivalent of CNG at Pensacola’s fueling station is currently priced at $2.05. CNG prices have remained relatively stable over recent years as gasoline and diesel prices have risen steadily.

ECUA Executive Director Steve Sorrell stated, “By transitioning to CNG in natural gas vehicles (NGVs), ECUA is projecting an annual maintenance cost savings in excess of $350,000, and a savings of about $900,000 in annual fuel costs. And there are environmental benefits associated with the use of NGVs in that there are less greenhouse gas emissions than the diesel-powered vehicles they are replacing.”

In 2011, ECUA finalized a ten-year CNG agreement with Pensacola Energy. As part of the agreement, ECUA will pay a monthly transportation charge as well as an indexed price-per-diesel-gallon equivalent of CNG fuel used by ECUA vehicles.

Pensacola Energy will operate and maintain the station, which features four “fast fill” hoses as well as 90 time-fill dispensers which can be used to refuel vehicles overnight.

Pictured: The grand opening of Escambia County’s first CNG filling station Wednesday on Pine Forest Road. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

10 Responses to “ECUA, City Unveil Escambia’s First Natural Gas Filling Station”

  1. David Huie Green on October 7th, 2012 11:36 am

    Obviously cng isn’t appropriate for every situation, but where it is is where it should be considered.
    As equipment wears out replacing it is a time to consider cng.
    If the application requires long distances where cng will not be available, it probably isn’t appropriate.

    Just remember it is cheaper, cleaner, safer, more abundant, bulkier than gasoline, diesel, ethanol. Use appropriately.

    David for doing the right thing
    and knowing what that is

  2. Frank on October 5th, 2012 11:55 am

    I want to know how they were alowed to put ina gas station or any business on a state hwy without having to put in a turn lane, when they made mine pay for one? When we expanded our business on pine forest?

  3. Jane on October 5th, 2012 5:19 am

    We are behind…Europe has had natural gas vehicles for years. They are efficient and not as expensive as gas/diesel/electric to operate. Maybe the car companies should have looked in this direction.

  4. bill on October 4th, 2012 11:20 pm

    So if they had to buy new vehicles….where is the savings?Hpw much were they? Oh they forgot that cost….lol Also the nice new wraps on the cars and the garbage trucks arn’t cheap. In the end I’ll bet its just another govt program that the bean counters incorrectly counted the beans……Our ECUA rate are going up 3 percent…..remember last week? We cant even get a correct number out of ECUA on how much they make from recycling……
    Bad idea for the city cop cars to have to drive all the way up to pine forest and mobile hwy to fuel up….and then back to the city….

  5. well on October 4th, 2012 10:37 pm

    The pickups purchased by the county and ECUA are duel fuel capable.
    CNG or Unleaded

  6. Yup on October 4th, 2012 10:33 pm

    Yes, prices are so stable that ESP gave the county a price of about 1.38 a gal when these vehicles were being discussed. But how bout that, when they arrive the cost is 2.02 a gal.

  7. Ben Thar on October 4th, 2012 12:13 pm

    “of course, you could remove the back seat, but the prisoner would have to be strapped to the hood for transport”
    _____________

    Still not seeing the down side.

  8. fred on October 4th, 2012 10:57 am

    @ c.w. – From my reading, it appears that the Gasoline Gallon Equivalent (GGE) of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is about 5.660 pounds of CNG per gallon of gasoline. Stored at 3600 psi, that is about 3.82 gals of CNG to equal the energy (measured in BTUs) of gasoline. So, in order to fill up with the same amount of equivalent fuel, to replace a 26 gallon gasoline tank, you’d need a 99.32 gallon CNG tank, very large. That’s why the deputies were spending half their shift at the pump. Maybe an engineer reading this column could comment, but it appears to me that the practical application of CNG is in large vehicles with the ability to store large amounts of fuel, not patrol cars with limited fuel storage capabilities (of course, you could remove the back seat, but the prisoner would have to be strapped to the hood for transport.) Then, in my mind, there’s the issue of having an injection system and engine capable of burning CNG fuel at a rate and volume high enough to generate the horsepower of a gasoline engine. Again, we need an engineer to comment here, because that’s beyond my knowledge as a layman.

    I guess I’m just saying that it’s difficult to tell whether this is a good idea or not for all applications – I won’t be running out to purchase a CNG vehicle, thinking that it will save any money or be practical for a daily driver. perhaps one of the Milton PD officers could comment about their experiences driving converted vehicles?

  9. c.w. on October 4th, 2012 10:07 am

    Milton put a natural gas service station in several years age. The city used it to fuel the police cars as I remember. What a joke. The cops had to fuel up twice or more every 8 hours. lol

  10. PSU1Earl on October 4th, 2012 9:53 am

    So, with ECUA saving $350k in annual maintenance and $900k in fuel costs… I will see a reduction of how much in my bill? *All I hear is crickets*… Of course when the price went up for fuel they were all over passing it on to the customers… and when do I start seeing my reduction in my trash bill from the windfall they are getting from the recycling program or methane generators at the dump? *more crickets*…

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News