Issue link: http://resourceworld.uberflip.com/i/318453
50 www.resourceworld.com j u n e / j u l y 2 0 1 4 W hile industry focuses on the export opportunities presented by liquefied natural gas (LNG) a British Columbia utility company is helping increase domestic use of the product – with an eye on the environment. FortisBC has been offering incentives to encourage customers to shift to natural gas-powered vehicles for several years, says company corporate communications advi- sor Michael Allison. "We've been working to realize the potential of LNG and CNG (compressed natural gas) since 2009. Since the development of funding incentives in 2012 we've spent $17.5 million to get more natural gas vehicles on the road." From the company's perspective it makes sense. Greater use means higher vol- umes running through FortisBC pipelines, which, in turn, means better year-round utilization of the company's infrastructure and thus better rates for their 960,000 nat- ural gas customers. Following the creation of the provincial government's Greenhouse Gas Reduction regulation in 2012, FortisBC moved quickly, announcing a $104.5-mil- lion program to offset up to 75% of the cost of converting vehicles to natural gas from diesel. Funding also is available for training, upgrades to facilities to safely maintain natural gas vehicles, and for building CNG or LNG fueling stations. "What we're seeing is that, in the devel- opment of natural gas infrastructure, this is one ingredient," said Allison. To meet increased market demand for LNG, FortisBC is undertaking a $400-mil- lion expansion of its Tilbury LNG plant in Delta, BC which will add about 1 million gigajoules of LNG storage plus 30,000- 80,000 gigajoules of liquefaction capacity per day to supply gas to the transportation sector and increase LNG supply, creat- ing opportunities for industrial users and remote communities. "Our goal is to provide natural gas as cheaply as possible for our customers," said Allison, "and the Tilbury expansion serves the needs of these customers". Natural gas has been identified as an economical and environmentally friendly fuel choice for transportation, especially for fleets like waste haulers, courier trucks, buses, tractor-trailers and marine vessels. Fuel costs are up to 50% less than diesel and operators report natural gas engines run more quietly than diesel. And natu- FortisBc promoting natural gas vehicle usage by Bruce Lantz OIL & g A S