The compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling infrastructure that the school district in Kern County, Calif., is using – originally built in 2005 – is due for an upgrade, and county officials have chosen TruStar Energy to handle the upgrades.
Scott Fieber, Kern County Superintendent of Schools' energy conservation supervisor, says the CNG-powered school bus fleet has expanded from 10 units to 60, which in and of itself would necessitate an evaluation of the county's CNG station. But he notes that the public-access site has seen dramatically more traffic recently, such as from local refuse firms and a 100-truck corporate natural gas vehicle fleet. The resulting increase in volume has made an expansion vital.
‘We've just outgrown the existing station by all shapes and forms,’ Fieber says.
Upgrades to the station, which is located in Bakersfield, will include the removal of older compressors and the associated infrastructure, to be replaced with two new higher-capacity compressors. The new site will also feature two dispensers instead of one, as well as an illuminated canopy.
TruStar says it plans to begin the work in September and have it wrapped up by the end of December.
