TRINIDAD — Sparq Natural Gas delivered key equipment August 6 for the construction of a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station, located at 806 E. Goddard in Trinidad. The equipment to be installed includes compression equipment, natural gas storage, dryer, monitoring equipment, and transmission pipes. Following the delivery and installation of the equipment, there will be an additional eight to ten weeks of construction and equipment commissioning and site start-up. The construction of the station puts Trinidad and Pueblo among the first CNG stations developed with public support from the Colorado Energy Officeʼs ALT fuels Colorado Grant Program. The $1 million ALT Fuels Grant is designed to reduce the risk of investment for the CNG stations in Trinidad and Pueblo. ALT Fuels Colorado grant program will provide $30 million over a four-year period from 2014 to 2017 through the Federal Highway Administrationʼs Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program and the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to advance Coloradoʼs adoption of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). The program is designed
to remove barriers to the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) by addressing the lack of fueling infrastructure. Sparq is actively working with regional dealerships to build fleet and consumer interest in natural gas vehicles. In support of the Sparq Trinidad station, the South Central Council of Governments (SCCOG) recently applied for a Department of Local Affairs Grant (DOLA) with the goal of upgrading their transit fleet to clean burning compressed natural gas The contract to co-locate compressed natural gas with the existing Duran Oil Company Shell gasoline station was completed in 2014, forming a strategic partnership to develop CNG at additional Duran locations across Colorado and New Mexico. The Trinidad site is engineered to serve the largely untapped vocational work truck, medium-duty, market segment and Class 8 Heavy-Duty customers located along a critical fueling “gap” in Southern Colorado. This allows truck traffic traveling from CNG areas of concentration in Denver and Albuquerque, New Mexico, to refuel in Southern Colorado. There are about 153,000 natural gas vehicles (NGVs) on U.S. roads today and more than 15.2 million worldwide, according to NGVAmerica, the national natural gas vehicle trade association. However there are only 1,566 CNG and 113 liquified natural gas (LNG) fueling stations in the U.S., with refueling appliances available for home use. Natural gas currently retains a price advantage to gasoline and diesel. In the U.S. alone, NGVs offset the use of about 400 million gallons of gasoline in 2013, the last year when data is available. Sparq will set a formal date for a Grand Opening Celebration in late October for the Trinidad station. The public will be invited for the event.
