Clean Energy Fuels Building Hydrogen Station for California Mass Transit
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.’s first hydrogen fueling station for Foothill Transit was such a success that it’s now on schedule to build a second H2 station at the Arcadia bus yard in California.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. was awarded the contract to design, build and maintain the hydrogen fuel cell stop. The Foothill Transit’s Arcadia bus yard also includes a fueling depot for the company’s renewable natural gas (RNG) fleet.
“We’ve had a longstanding relationship as trusted partners of Foothill Transit for over two decades,” said Chad Lindholm, senior vice president at Clean Energy, in a statement. “We’re proud to support their transition to clean fuels–whether it’s RNG or hydrogen. Foothill continues to set the standard for sustainability in transit, and we’re excited to help expand their hydrogen infrastructure as they move proactively toward a zero-emissions future.”
The $11.3 million design-build project will be partially funded using federal and state grant assistance. An initial order of 19 new hydrogen fuel-cell buses will be delivered to operate at the Acadia site once it's operationa.
Foothill Transit carries more than 11 million customers annually throughout the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona Valley and downtown Los Angeles, with 33 zero-emission hydrogen fuel buses operating out of the Pomona station.
Clean Energy Fuels started building that first station in 2021 and commissioned it two years later.
The new Arcadia station, which will store liquid hydrogen and dispense it in gaseous form, is currently in the design stage with construction scheduled to begin in mid-2026.
Earlier this summer, Clean Energy Fuels Corp. broke ground on three RNG production facilities nationwide in partnership with Maas Energy Works. Those projects will connect with six dairy farms across South Dakota, George, Florida and New Mexico, and are forecast to produce about three million gallons equivalent of RNG annually when fully operational.
The company has opened a new RNG fueling station in New Jersey over the past year.
Hydrogen fuel cell technology uses an electrochemical process to convert fuel into electricity with lower emissions at the point of use. Hydrogen does not contain carbon in its molecular chain and does not produce CO2 at its point of use.
Foothill Transit has been decarbonizing its fleet through a shift to buses running on H2 and RNG for several years. In 2023, the public transit provider ordered 19 Axess EVO-FC hydrogen fuel cell buses from manufacturer ELDorado, now called ENC and owned by Rivaz, Inc. Those buses have a range of up to 400 miles and can be refueled in 20 minutes.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.