TRANSPORTATION Fueling network fans out
Katy compressed natural gas station gives a boost to the alternative energy
After working out a deal to tap into natural gas lines, the Houston area now has another compressed natural gas fueling station along Interstate 10.
“We’re starting to build along major routes now so you can go from here to Florida in a semi,” Katy-based CNG 4 America President and CEO Bob Baldwin said Tuesday at the new CNG station at Interstate 10 and Katy Fort Bend Road. “We think this is a great location.”
The Houston area now counts more than a dozen CNG stations from Rosenberg up to Conroe, including one by Apache Corp. in the Galleria
area. The growth has occurred in just a few years.
U.S. Department of Energy data show there are more than 1,500 CNG fueling stations in the country, including about 850 that are open to the public. Texas trails only California in total CNG stations with more than 70 public stations and about 40 more that are kept private for corporate trucking fleets and other uses.
Result of shale boom
Compressed natural gas is considered cleaner and less corrosive than diesel. The use of CNG has sped up rapidly, thanks to the shale gas boom and cheap natural gas.
“It is changing the infrastructure of our country,” Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton said. “It’s access to affordable, consistent energy.”
Sitton argued that CNG is nearing a critical mass similar to that experienced by Starbucks and Amazon. com just before they took off nationally. He said CNG could replace — he corrected himself to say “releverage” — about 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, including helping to reduce the nation’s imports.
The $1.4 million Katy station is CNG 4 America’s third to open, after stations in Bryan and Rosenberg. Two others are in the works for Austin and San Marcos.
Consumer uses
While most CNG is reserved for trucking fleets, Baldwin said it is just a matter of time before consumer cars and trucks start relying on compressed natural gas as a cleaner alternative to gasoline.
“The abundance of natural gas is a big reason,” he said.
But he acknowledged that costs will have to come down and that gasoline will need to become more expensive again. CNG fuel tanks are bulkier than gasoline tanks, and it costs more than $7,000 to convert a car to CNG, he said.
“We will see $5 or $6 gasoline someday,” Baldwin said. “All it takes is some scuffle in the Middle East.”
He noted that Iran and Pakistan lead the world in CNG vehicle usage per capita.
“If they can do it, why can’t we?” he added.
Companies like Houston-based Waste Management and beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev have converted much of their truck fleets to CNG. Others like UPS are converting to liquefied natural gas instead.
Switching comfortably
One key to growth is ensuring the CNG fueling infrastructure is built up nationally so more companies and people feel comfortable switching, Baldwin said. That is why his company is focusing on major corridors like I-10 and building near convenience stores so there are amenities in place for drivers.
The new Katy station opened next to an existing Texaco gasoline station and convenience store.
After realizing it would cost more than $500,000 to tap into Kinder Morgan’s natural gas lines that run into Houston, Baldwin said he eventually worked out a deal to get the tap for free in exchange for a 10-year commitment in a partnership with CenterPoint Energy and the city of Katy, which opted to use the tap to make more natural gas available for Katy residents.
Houston-based Freedom CNG and T. Boone Pickens’ Clean Energy each have three fueling stations in the Houston area.
“I-10 is a big corridor here,” Baldwin said. “Ten percent of the nation’s traffic is along the Texas triangle” of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.