Renewable Dairy Fuels, an affiliate of Indiana milk producer Fair Oaks Dairy, has contracted with Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (Nasdaq: CLNE) to build and operate a new compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station that will dispense CNG fuel to power the initial fleet of 42 CNG milk-hauling trucks the dairy plans to deploy later in 2011.
The Renewable Dairy Fuels CNG trucks will transport milk to processing plants owned by Kroger Company in Indianapolis IN, Murfreesboro TN, and Winchester KY.
Set to open in autumn 2011, the Fair Oaks Station will also have public access and will be near the dairy farm adjacent to Interstate 65 in Fair Oaks IN—about 70 miles south of Chicago. The Fair Oaks Station will supply the Fair Oaks CNG milk-hauling truck fleet, as well as other CNG vehicles operating in the area. A second CNG station is planned for late 2011 in southern Indiana adjacent to the Kentucky border along I-65. Renewable Dairy Fuels also plans to produce biomethane from dairy cattle waste and pipe the biogas directly to the Fair Oaks Station for on-site conversion to CNG vehicle fuel. The biogas will be made available for vehicle fuel use once the conditioning facility for the biogas is completed, which is anticipated within 12 to 18 months.
The dairy’s CNG truck fleet will transport 53 loads of milk per day, which equates to 7.5 million gallons a month or 90 million gallons of milk per year. The trucks will replace diesel-powered models and are projected to use more than 1.5 million diesel gallon equivalents of CNG per year.
Clean Energy fuels more than 22,700 vehicles at 238 locations across the United States and Canada with a customer base in the refuse, transit, trucking, shuttle, taxi, airport, and municipal fleet markets.
Access www.cleanenergyfuels.com for more details.