Tourmaline Oil and Clean Energy have announced the expansion of their compressed natural gas, or CNG, fueling network in Alberta. New stations opened in Calgary and Grande Prairie in late October, building on the first station in Edmonton, which opened in April 2023.

The new facilities aim to support more than 300 trucks per day, part of the companies’ plan to create Canada’s first CNG corridor for trucking, helping to reduce diesel dependency. They committed to building up to 20 CNG fueling stations across Western Canada over the next five years. Once the network is developed, the expectation is that it can support the displacement of more than 150 million liters of diesel per year.  This project has attracted several key industry players, with some of the major carriers adopting CNG as part of their fleet conversion. The companies have already collectively displaced a little over 2 million liters of diesel since last April.

Cody Brookwell, director of sales and business development, Clean Energy Canada: The 1400 metric tons of CO2 emissions that have been avoided equals about 24,000 urban trees planted and grown for 10 years, or just over 300 passenger vehicles removed off the road every single year. It’s been an impact, for sure, but we’re just getting started. We’re very excited about where we’re going.

The construction on the next CNG station is set to begin in Kamloops B.C., with Fort McMurray and Fort St. John to follow.

Cody Brookwell: These initial investments are going to very specifically target certain lanes, Lethbridge, right up to Fort McMurray, obviously the big, big Lane being Calgary-Edmonton. But as we start to expand our network, looking into Kamloops, for example, which will come online sometime in Q1 2025, our intention is to connect that corridor, starting from the Port of Vancouver up through Kamloops into Calgary, and then east across the prairies of Canada. So as we start to develop this, you know, we’re starting to target certain lanes initially, but the bigger vision for Canada is that we can move goods across the country on natural gas.

The companies say that by shifting from diesel and investing in natural gas carriers can significantly reduce fuel costs and emissions.

Cody Brookwell: We know that that shareholders and customers are pushing for new technologies, but we also know that it can’t come at the expense of profitability. I think our industry needs to remain financially stable so companies can continue to invest in their people, their equipment and the plans for the future. That’s what makes CNG such a great option. You can make an impact on carbon today, while remaining compliant for future EPA and carb regulations, all while improving the bottom line. Today, our customers in the market are seeing fuel savings in excess of 50% compared to retail diesel.

For those fleets thinking about transitioning to CNG, Clean Energy recommends to get in touch with their OEMs as a first stepping stone, adding that there are other factors to keep in mind.

Cody Brookwell: Natural gas trucks are very similar to diesel, but there are differences. It’s a spark ignited engine, the maintenance is going to be a little bit different, so you’re going to want to make sure you’re adjusting accordingly internally. In terms of cold weather, they perform great. There’s no gelling of the fuel. You’re going to want to keep them plugged in, keep them warm, and you’re going to have a lot of success. But I think, you know, surrounding yourselves with your OEM partners as well as your fueling partner, is going to set you up for success. But the other piece of that is also the service and support that is required in the industry after these trucking companies adopt the truck. So, when we talk about the pieces of the puzzle that need to come together, we reference the technology gap, and, you know ,specifically the Cummins product that’s coming into the market that fills that need. The infrastructure, of course, the reliability, the performance that is required to see this come to life at commercial scale. But the third piece is service and support. So, cornerstone of our marketing efforts and market development efforts has been engaging and aligning ourselves, as well as this product, with the local OEMs, they have a huge role to play. These are the folks that are the experts in being able to spec the right truck for the customer, and we have seen a lot of leadership in that regard.