Grants

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is targeting the natural gas-consuming food processing industry with $57 million in grants provided by the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Fund. The grants are aimed at adopting advanced energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. CEC is offering grants to two tiers of potential projects. Individual grants of $100,000 to $3 million are available for commercial equipment upgrades, while $2-8 million in grants would be available for emerging technologies to reduce GHG emissions. More information is available at the Food Production Investment Program.

FirstEnergy Corp. wrapped-up its clearing and demolition work last week in Belmont County, OH, at the 150-acre site of a former coal-fired power plant, finishing another step to ready part of the land that could one day be home to PTT Global Chemical pcl’s (PTTGC) proposed ethane cracker.

Pennsylvania is accepting applications for $24 million worth of grants that would help connect more of the state’s businesses, schools and municipalities with natural gas.

Environmental surcharges will be permanently tacked onto Canadian pipeline tolls if the National Energy Board (NEB) grants requests by natural gas and oil transporters to make shippers cover cleanup liabilities.

Environmental surcharges will be permanently tacked onto Canadian pipeline tolls if the National Energy Board (NEB) grants requests by natural gas and oil transporters to make shippers cover cleanup liabilities.

As part of a current fiscal year $90 million program, the California Energy Commission (CEC) on Wednesday awarded two more grants totaling nearly $700,000 to help advance alternative fuel and vehicle technology throughout the state. One grant ($278,000) went to a Southern California school district in Upland, CA, to update the district’s compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling facility to expand its fleet of CNG-powered buses. A second award ($400,000) went to Greenkraft Inc., an automotive manufacturer in Anaheim, CA, to use as buy-down incentives on the purchase of 40 medium-duty propane trucks. These incentives help pay the difference between alternative fuel vehicles and conventional ones. They are available only for new natural gas- and propane-powered vehicles that meet all of the emissions requirements of the California Air Resources Board. The CEC administers the state’s “Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program,” created by the state legislature in AB 118 a few years ago.

With $2.375 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is working on two projects with Northwestern University researchers and a startup they have created, NuMat Technologies to develop lightweight, affordable natural gas vehicle (NGV) fuel tanks for passenger cars, along with natural gas compressors that can fuel the vehicles in the home or office settings. The projects are part of DOE’s Methane Opportunities for Vehicular Energy program. GTI plans to develop “a low-pressure adsorbent material” to be used in gas storage tanks designed exclusively for NGVs to overcome the current heavy, large tanks that must withstand pressures of up to 3,600 psi, which adds to the cost and weight of the NGVs compared to gasoline and diesel vehicles. GTI received $1.5 million from DOE to develop the advanced adsorbed natural gas technology for fueling tanks and $875,000 to develop a unique low-pressure NGV fueling technology.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is looking for ways to get the natural gas industry to use polluted discharge from old mines.

A coalition of environmental groups is calling on Pennsylvania lawmakers to take a new approach in their ongoing efforts to approve an impact fee on natural gas drilling in the state, either by starting the process over or dividing the omnibus legislation into four separate bills.