Piedmont Natural Gas and the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, operating as Wave Transit, have completed a new compressed natural gas (CNG) station located within the agency’s recently opened operations center at Castle Hayne Rd. in Wilmington, N.C.
Piedmont says it worked with general contractor Jackson Builders to design and build the station and equipped it with infrastructure capable of refueling 20 vehicles at a time: Currently, the transit agency has two CNG buses in its “Green Wave” fleet, and it plans to acquire a total of 18 CNG buses by 2018.
“We chose to use CNG as an alternative fuel because of its lower cost, reduced price volatility and lower carbon footprint,” states Albert Eby, Wave Transit’s executive director. “Wave Transit is committed to meeting the needs of our passengers, and we are confident that using natural gas will benefit our agency and our community for years to come.”
Ken Valentine, vice president of business development for Piedmont Natural Gas, says, “Wave Transit is a progressive and environmentally conscious transit agency, and Piedmont is pleased to support their goals.”
Piedmont notes it is working with other corporate fleet owners and municipalities to install dedicated CNG refueling facilities at their locations, and the company also operates 10 public CNG stations throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. In addition, Piedmont has converted approximately one-third of its own corporate fleet to vehicles that run on CNG.
