CNG Fueling Station to Fill Growing Demand in Valley
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Residents of the Mahoning Valley have heard for years about the potential for the resources of the Utica and Marcellus shale plays to transform the energy landscape of the United States. On June 3, they learned how natural gas could also change how they fuel their cars and trucks.
IGS Energy CNG Services, based in Dublin, announced it plans to break ground this year on a CGC fueling station at the Mr. Fuel gas station and truck stop at the Interstate 80-Salt Springs Road interchange (READ STORY). The company has targeted a first-quarter 2014 opening for the CNG station, the Valley’s first, which will be able to support light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles.
“A lot of different factors” go into creating a CNG station,” but “first and foremost” is demand for and popularity of the fuel, said Dave Mrowzinski, CNG program manager for IGS Energy, who made the announcement during Youngstown State University’s Sustainable Energy Forum. CNG fuel is comparatively inexpensive -- $2.10 per gallon, compared to current pump prices of around $3.80 this week for regular unleaded gasoline. "It allows for significant savings for local fleets” as well as for vehicles traveling through to save money, he added.
“Right now in the United States there are about 125,000 CNG vehicles,” Mrowzinski said.
Only a year or so ago in Ohio, there were only three CNG stations, and now another eight to 10 are coming online. “Use of CNG is expanding rapidly,” he continued. Chevrolet and GMC are “jumping on board” with vans and pick-up trucks, and Ford does conversions through its upfit program. “Further, on the heavy-duty side, which is also an important sector for CNG, a lot of large companies such as Freightliner offer dedicated CNG vehicles right off the factory line,” he said.
Having an alternative fuel depot will provide another component to the Valley’s “high-tech evolution,” says Eric Planey, vice president of international business attraction for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Chamber officials began working with IGS about four months ago, Planey said. The nearest CNG station to the Valley is in Canton, part of that city’s public transit system, he said.
“It’s an ideal location” due to the interstate traffic at the interchange but also will provide opportunities for local companies, Planey remarked.
“It’s significant because it shows that companies from around the state, from around the United States, from around the world, are seeing the evolution of technology, of the growth of the economy in the Mahoning Valley and are investing,” he said. “They see an opportunity here.”
Also during the forum, attendees received an update on the Tech Belt energy Innovation Center in downtown Warren. While work on TBEIC’s most visible aspect, its headquarters, remains stalled as it continues to move through federal approvals, it is operating a “robust support program” for entrepreneurs in the energy sector, its director asserts.
Since beginning operations last year, TBEIC has been providing assistance and support to more than two dozen companies, reported Dave Nestic, chief executive, regional operations.
Among the entrepreneurial firms TBEIC is working with is MegaJoule Storage Inc., Cleveland, an energy storage company. The center put MegaJoule in touch with another TBEIC member, Butech Bliss, a heavy equipment manufacturer in Salem. MegaJoule “could provide significant cost savings on the electric bill” for Butech Bliss’ customer base, Nestic said.
Renovation of the former Kresge building remains mired in the U.S. Department of Energy’s approval process. The center also is working on securing a state brownfield loan, which has been preapproved, to address environmental issues on the building.
“We can’t swing hammers at all until all these approvals are in place because if we start construction before the approvals are obtained on the financing then the financing doesn’t cover the expenses,” Nestic said. TBEIC is “actively going back and forth with them through YSU,” which is serving as the fiscal agent on the project. DOE has changed programs managers three times, and each new program manager comes back with additional questions.
“We did have full approval from the last program manager but in between getting full approval via email and getting the official documentation for our files, they change program managers,” he said.
TBEIC also received funding from the Raymond John Wean Foundation to form the Valley Alliance for Science and Technology, a new networking organization for chief executives and vice presidents of engineering and research for manufacturing or technology firms. The objective of the new group is to help encourage product research and development activity among area technology companies.
“It would provide that networking piece that needs to exist so that these companies collaborate, start to communicate, and we can communicate to them opportunities for funding R&D that has not been active in the Valley,” Nestic said.
During the two-day forum’s final day, those in attendance also heard from Matthew E. Moran, sector manager, energy and materials, at the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland. A YSU engineering graduate, Moran discussed potential opportunities for collaboration. Much of the work there is “closely related” to the challenges facing the energy sector, he pointed out.
“We do a lot of work with solar cells, for example,” Moran said. In space, solar is the primary source of power “so we do storage, we do smart grid type of work,” he explained.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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