Greentech Lead America: Nopetro has announced the opening
of its state-of-the-art compressed natural gas (CNG) facility in Florida.
This is the first natural gas facility in Florida, and offers
Florida and the Southeast the prospect of a viable natural gas solution not
seen anywhere outside of California.
Agriculture & Consumer Affairs Commissioner Adam
Putnam, Florida’s top energy official, officially opened the facility .
The station is part of a planned regional network that
will make CNG a workable cost-saving option for government and commercial
fleets as well as individual CNG vehicle owners.
“This partnership is exactly what our Legislature
had in mind when it established natural gas as a key component of the state’s
transportation policies,” Putnam said. “A network of natural gas fueling
stations in major cities across our state will encourage commercial fleets and
individual consumers to make the move into Florida’s energy future.”
Once the first phase of the station is completed, private
fleets of heavy freight vehicles that move Florida’s consumer goods will have a
practical way to traverse the state and region fueled by CNG. This will produce
tremendous cost savings, and as individual stations are built local schools and
governments will be able to enjoy significant cost savings that will benefit
the taxpayers, he said.
The Tallahassee facility, the largest and most expansive
CNG fueling operation on the East Coast of the United States, is formed by
public and private sector partnerships. The school district is transforming its
entire fleet of diesel-powered school buses to CNG, and other public and
private consumers may also fuel their CNG vehicles at the station. A portion of
each sale will benefit the school district thanks to the partnership with
Nopetro.
“This is truly a day worth celebrating – a big step
forward in the journey toward independence from expensive foreign fuels,” said
Jorge Herrera, co-founder and CEO of Nopetro, which has offices in Tallahassee
and Miami. “Nopetro epitomizes the American dream of hard work producing
results, and we are proud to be leading the way both here in Tallahassee and
across Florida and the Southeast.”
Nopetro identified 18 additional cities it is targeting
over the next three years, including Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort
Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Key Largo, Miami, Ocala,
Orlando, Pensacola, Sarasota, St. Augustine, Tampa and West Palm Beach in
Florida, and Atlanta, Macon and Savannah in Georgia.
This network of stations will make it possible for heavy
truck traffic, local government vehicles and school buses to convert to natural
gas. Natural gas is least 25 percent cheaper and 33 percent cleaner than diesel
fuel.