Canada’s natural gas utilities have set a target of 5 % RNG-blended natural gas in the pipeline distribution system by 2025 and 10 % by 2030, reports the Canadian Gas Association (CGA). That adds a new dimension to arguments in support of natural gas for all forms of transportation in Canada where there is small but growing body of participants.
Explaining the significance for the natural gas or transportation sector, Bruce Winchester, Executive Director of the Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance (CNGVA), said : “On its own natural gas is a clean and affordable transportation fuel but the addition of RNG turbocharges the emissions benefits. Canada’s natural gas distributors have taken a leadership role in announcing national targets for RNG that will make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike other biofuels blends, RNG is identical to natural gas and has the same performance characteristics as conventional natural gas.”
Recent Canadian News:
Mar 2016: The Canadian Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance (CNGVA) sees good news for Canada’s natural gas vehicle sector arising out of the 2016 federal budget, announced March 22, which outlines an ambitious agenda aimed at transforming Canada’s economy.
Feb 2016: Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) has opened a fresh round of funding to support the development and demonstration of new downstream natural gas technology including funding for projects related to natural gas fuel for transportation
Jan 2016: The growing interest in the use of natural gas vehicles in Canada over the past few years has stimulated Natural Gas Vehicle Institute (NGVi), a ASE CASE-accredited provider of technical training for the CNG and LNG industry in North America, to bring its award winning NGV technician training as a public offering for the first time to Toronto.
Dec 2015: Quebec’s waste management and trucking company EBI Environnement Inc. has opened its fourth Compressed Natural Gas (CNG/RNG) filling station in the province, located in Joliette in the Lanaudière region.
Oct 2015: Canadian waste resources management company Emterra Group in partnership with fuel supplier GAIN Clean Fuel and transportation company C.A.T. Inc have opened the first public compressed natural gas (CNG) fuelling station in Ontario, in Mississauga, Peel Region.
Jul 2015: Constituting the largest vessel of the Société des traversiers du Québec fleet, MV-F.-A. Gauthier is the first ferry to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in North America.
Mar 2015: Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. (PWS), one of North America’s largest full-service waste management companies, has officially opened its renewable natural gas facility, the largest of its kind in Canada and one of the biggest in North America.
Nationally, the increased RNG content would result in 14 megatonnes (MT) of greenhouse gas emission reductions per year by 2030, equivalent to removing 3 million passenger cars from the road.
RNG, a 100 per cent renewable energy source, is natural gas currently produced from organic waste from farms, forests, landfills, and water treatment plants. The gas is captured, cleaned, and blended into natural gas distribution pipelines and used in the same way as traditionally delivered natural gas by transportation fleets and no special equipment upgrades are required.
CGA says this is one example of how natural gas utilities and the natural gas distribution system have an important role in Canada’s innovative energy delivery system of the future.
“Canada’s natural gas delivery industry recognizes that increasing RNG content in the natural gas delivered to Canadian customers is a pathway towards meaningful reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” said Timothy M. Egan, President and CEO of the Canadian Gas Association. “We look forward to continuing discussions with government, RNG technology companies and other stakeholders to ensure that they appreciate that the gas system is a mechanism for renewable energy delivery – in fact it is often the most efficient and cost-effective means to deliver renewables,” said Egan.
In 2013, Canadian natural gas utilities leveraged the expertise of Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetENERGY who developed with industry the RNG Technology Roadmap for Canada. The Roadmap has been an instrumental tool in assisting industry to better understand the market and technology needs required for Canada to realize its RNG potential.
RNG can be produced, cleaned and injected into the natural gas distribution system at competitive costs compared to other renewable energy options. RNG costs between $10-25 per gigajoule (GJ) or 4-9 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) while recent renewable electricity contracts for utility scale solar and wind projects have been signed for $19 and $44/GJ or 7-16 cents/kWh. An added benefit is that RNG does not face issues of intermittency that other renewable energy sources face, and it can be easily stored in existing gas infrastructure, offering reliability and flexibility.
In British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, natural gas distribution utilities are currently blending RNG into their gas pipeline systems. By the end of 2017, 11 RNG projects in Canada will be online producing enough renewable fuel to meet the energy needs of 51,000 homes or supplying 137 million liters of renewable fuel for transportation markets.
(Source: Canadian Gas Association)
Information about natural gas for transportation across Canada can be obtained by contacting CNGVA at www.cngva.org.
