Amazon bumps up RNG capacity with new fuelling station

Amazon’s renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel provider has opened a new fueling station in the Chicago area for the e-commerce giant’s trucks.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp.’s RNG station will provide an anticipated 1.4 million gallons of the clean fuel annually for Amazon and other truck fleets in the greater Chicago area.

The station is part of an agreement between Clean Energy and Amazon for Clean Energy to build 19 stations nationwide. It is intended to support the retailer in its adoption of RNG, a sustainable fuel produced from organic waste, which has been given an average carbon rating of -317 by the California Air Resources Board and is helping fleets to further their carbon reduction and fiscal goals.

The station initially will fuel more than 100 Amazon trucks and is designed with sufficient fueling capacity to accommodate several hundred more trucks. Amazon heavy-duty trucks have already fueled at more than 86 existing Clean Energy stations around the country and under the agreement announced last year, another 17 new Clean Energy-owned stations are slated to follow, with several expected to open early next year.

“The addition of the Romeoville station to our fueling network represents another step in the pathway for Amazon to realize significant carbon reduction for its transportation fleets,” said Chad Lindholm, senior vice president, Clean Energy.

“Trucks that operate on diesel are incredibly harmful to the air we breathe and contribute to long-term climate change. Renewable natural gas is a viable solution that provides immediate benefits, and as such this station will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the impact of climate change in the Chicago area.”

By dispensing 1.4 million gallons of RNG annually instead of diesel, the Romeoville station will reduce carbon emissions by 15,219 MT metric tons—the equivalent of growing 253,643 trees for ten years, removing 3,308 passenger cars from the road, or reducing 6,112 tons of landfill waste.

The Romeoville station spans 8.2 acres and includes multiple public access fast-fill dispensers for easy in-and-out fueling of RNG; time-fill posts for up to 152 trucks, allowing for cost-effective fueling and the most advanced technology transmitting real-time data to customers; and 153 parking places for drivers’ personal vehicles.

“We’re pleased that fleets that operate in Romeoville will now have the option to use RNG fuel,” said Romeoville Mayor John Noak. “It’s a fuel that will improve air quality and have a positive impact on climate change.”

Clean Energy is also investing in the production of renewable natural gas with partners, TotalEnergies and bp, at dairies throughout the Midwest. The RNG produced at these dairies and others around the country will flow into the Romeoville station and Clean Energy’s nationwide fueling infrastructure.

The RNG digesters at dairies allow their owners to solve the problem of fugitive methane while realizing an additional revenue stream.