Clean Energy Fuels Corp., Ferus Natural Gas Fuels, GE Ventures and GE Energy Financial Services announced at the High Horsepower Summit in Chicago a consortium to jointly deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United States. The consortium, Eagle LNG Partners, will develop regional LNG projects to meet the growing demand for the cleaner-burning, less expensive fuel in industries such as long-haul trucking, rail, mining, marine and oil and gas services.
John Shepherd, managing director at GE Energy Financial Services, said, “Natural gas is revolutionizing the fueling of long-haul trucking and other high-horsepower applications. With massive amounts of domestic reserves, America is facing a generational opportunity to move to a more secure, less expensive and cleaner-burning fuel. Eagle LNG Partners’ mission is to provide customers with technology and know-how to confidently make the switch.”
Through experience, technical capability and commercial expertise, Eagle LNG Partners will identify strategic U.S. locations to develop, own and operate LNG production projects. Additionally, when required in certain markets such as oil and gas and marine, the consortium is capable of providing its customers with complete LNG solutions including transportation and delivery, on-site storage, gasification and dispensing. Eagle LNG Partners is set up to provide proximal and uninterrupted LNG supply, which is critical to its customers’ operations.
■ Clean Energy brings experience in developing, constructing and operating micro-LNG plants.
■ Ferus Natural Gas Fuels offers tailored expertise in cryogenic and micro-LNG plants, along with a deep understanding of cryogenic logistics that ensures an uninterrupted fuel supply.
■ GE Ventures drives commercial and technical innovation.
■ GE Energy Financial Services provides capital for energy projects.
Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy said, “Major companies in the long-haul trucking business have made significant announcements over the last few months about their intentions to convert their own fleets, or the third-party trucks that move their products to natural gas. Along with recent announcements by rail and marine companies, it’s easy to understand the need for a significant increase in LNG supply in the United States. We are now joining with our partners to help meet that demand.”
Eagle LNG Partners is currently considering projects in Florida, Washington, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas. These projects would build upon existing Clean Energy and Ferus Natural Gas Fuels plants and operations, as well as previously announced Clean Energy-GE LNG projects in the Northeast and Midwest, which are expected to be operational in late 2015.
Added Dick Brown, CEO of Ferus Natural Gas Fuels: “We have heard our customers say they want LNG delivered to their point of consumption at a predictable price, with certainty and redundancy of availability. They want someone who has been in the business of owning and operating these plants, with the experience to facilitate the switch to natural gas, and who can deliver and dispense LNG safely and reliably without any disruption to operations.”
Customers of Eagle LNG Partners will be operators of high-horsepower equipment in trucking, oil and gas, rail, marine, remote power and mining who now burn diesel or fuel oil and are interested in converting to lower-cost, cleaner-burning natural gas.
Growth of natural gas from unconventional resources such as shales in the United States has created an ideal environment for those considering LNG as a fuel.
Think Safety
To help customers with the application of IEC61511 (the process industry-specific implementation of IEC61508), Rockwell Automation has published the Process Safebook – a free guide to functional safety for process applications. The guide discusses how to manage safety in electrical, electronic and programmable electronic systems. It also provides guidance for engineers on how to integrate safety into a process system design.
The book covers:
■ Safety life cycle.
■ Risk and risk reduction.
■ The ALARP principle.
■ Determining SIL targets.
■ Risk graphs.
■ Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA).
■ Allocation of safety functions.
■ Safety-requirement specification for the SIS.
■ Reliability techniques.
■ SIL verification.
■ SIF probability of failure.
■ Functional safety, assessment and auditing.
Rockwell Automation, www.emea.rockwellautomation.com