Fargo studies feasibility of CNG

State grant allows city to explore possibilities of natural gas-fueled fleet

BY KRIS BEVILL

Fargo, N.D.’s MATBUS public transport system boasts more than 1 million riders annually, requiring millions of dollars in diesel fuel. The city is exploring the potential use of compressed natural gas as a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly fuel, with city buses a likely candidate to be among the first converted vehicles.

PHOTO: CITY OF FARGO

In August, the city of Fargo, N.D., received the first grant ever awarded through the North Dakota Commerce Department’s State Energy Program to study the feasibility of using compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel city vehicles. The $50,000 grant will be used to finance a feasibility being conducted by Wenck Associates Inc., to explore the costs and best practices of converting the city’s fleet, the costs of establishing the fueling infrastructure, safety requirements, overall short-term and long-term risks and mitigation strategies and the expected return on investment. The study is expected to be complete later this year.

Fargo was selected to receive the grant because city officials had already spent several years exploring the potential use of CNG as a method of lowering the city’s fuel costs and reducing vehicle emissions. The city has also carried out a successful effort to increase the use of public transportation within the past decade and as a result requires more fuel for its fleet. Ridership on the metro’s public buses has tripled since 2004, up to 1.2 million riders annually, and the city currently spends about $4 million each year on transportation fuel for its fleet, most of which is diesel for buses.

“North Dakota has an abundance of natural gas,” says Andrea Holl Pfennig, SEP program administrator. “If it can be utilized in a manner that will reduce operating costs while improving air emissions, it will be a great benefit for the community.”

Fargo is already experienced in converting gas into a valuable resource and plans to apply that knowledge, and existing infrastructure, to the potential use of CNG as a fleet fuel. The city captures methane gas from its landfill, compresses it and sells portions of the usable product to Cass County Electric and to nearby Cargill to power its boilers, generating about $400,000 a year for the city’s coffers. The city currently captures the equivalent of about 3 million gallons of diesel fuel per year at the landfill, which is about three times as much fuel as the city currently requires to fuel its fleet.

Part of the feasibility study will explore the possibility of converting landfill gas to vehicle fuel as another option for the city’s CNG plans. The study will also take into consideration existing infrastructure, including Xcel Energy natural gas pipelines located near potential fueling station sites, and existing gas compressors at the landfill.

Mike Williams, Fargo city commissioner and member of the city’s renewable energy and conservation committee, says the city is well-positioned to deploy CNG for use in its fleet, but because of the time required to convert a fleet and the high costs of establishing a filling station, there may be a need for private business participation as well. “You can’t just transform your whole fleet overnight,” he says. “You might start with a bus here, a garbage truck there and a couple of pick-ups. That really doesn’t justify a $1 million compression station. So you have to build a market. We can start to create that demand by starting a project that the private sector might not do alone, and it would benefit taxpayers at the same time.”

Williams says city officials have had discussions with local businesses, focusing on those with fleets that stay in Fargo and fuel up in the city daily, and have received positive feedback. The primary attractant for private businesses is the low cost of natural gas compared to diesel with the added benefit of natural gas being a cleaner burning fuel, he says.

The city will not move ahead on a plan to convert any of its fleet until the results of the study are available, but Williams is confident the study will prove the environmental and cost benefits of utilizing the fuel and that natural gas will become a vehicle fuel option for Fargo fleets sometime in the future. “I think we will end up with some kind of station just because it makes such good economical sense,” he says. PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com