An Ypsilanti-based renewable energy nonprofit is cultivating a statewide profile as a go-to source for municipalities and transportation organizations pursuing clean fueling infrastructure and alternative fuel vehicles.
Clean Energy Coalition is leveraging its expertise in alternative energy technology and infrastructure to offer solutions to partners throughout the state.
Now the three-year-old organization, formed in part to run the Ann Arbor Clean Cities Coalition, is poised to reap additional statewide attention after landing a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy last week and securing another $16 million in matching funds from its partners.
The organization will help municipalities, companies and transportation authorities acquire 271 alternative fuel vehicles and fund the installation of 19 new clean fueling stations throughout the state. The funding is part of DOE’s $300 million Clean Cities program, an initiative funded by the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“This is a project in line with the reach and scope of what we’re doing, but it definitely makes us a bigger player across the state,” said Sean Reed, CEC’s founder and executive director.
CEC is establishing itself as Michigan’s economic development source for acquisition of alternative propulsion vehicle grants and fueling infrastructure. The organization previously focused on helping fueling station owners secure financial incentives for installing ethanol pumps and natural gas fueling capability, for example.
The four-year Michigan Green Fleets program budgets two years for equipment investments and another two years to market the petroleum displacement resulting from the spending.
But this grant allows CEC to fund 10 new compressed natural gas stations run by utility DTE Energy, as well as battery-charging stations and possibly a liquefied natural gas station run by Grand Rapids-based Meijer Inc.
DTE has set its sights on Ypsilanti as a location of a new CNG station with public accessibility, said Rob Bacyinski, DTE's program manager of alternative fuel vehicles. DTE currently operates 11 CNG stations throughout the state.
“Everybody is smart enough to realize that we have to eventually come up with some alternatives to gasoline and diesel. All of the alternatives have a unique niche that I think they can fill,” Bacyinski said. “We see CNG having a key role in meeting the heavy-duty markets.”
CNG is particularly viable as an alternative fuel for transit vehicles, but hybrid-electric technology is also emerging as a realistic option for trucks and small vehicles. Of the 271 vehicles CEC is helping its partners acquire, 50 are headed for Ann Arbor.
Among the participants in the project are the University of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and the city of Ann Arbor.
AATA is adding 10 hybrid diesel-electric transit buses, the city is purchasing seven heavy-duty clean tech vehicles, and U-M is acquiring 30 hybrid sedans and three battery electric transit buses, Reed said.
For transit vehicles, the grant covers the cost premium between an alternative fuel vehicle and a traditional one. For light duty-hybrids, the grant covers up to $2,000.
R. Keith Johnson, the University of Michigan's general manager of fleet and garage services, said in an e-mail that the university expects to save an additional 19,000 gallons of gasoline through this program. U-M has more than 1,000 vehicles for its employees.
Tom Gibbons, a financial analyst in Ann Arbor’s fleet facilities unit, said the city would save about $540,000 on its vehicle purchases - not to mention the fuel savings over the lifetime of the vehicles.
“For us it’s going to be mean that we can afford to buy more of this hybrid technology and alternative fuel vehicles so we can put them out in the public and people can see how useful they are and how good they are,” Gibbons said.
Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at nathanbomey@annarbor.com, (734) 623-2587 or follow him on Twitter.
Get the Ann Arbor RSS Feed
AnnArbor.com