Clean Energy opens RNG station to fuel Amazon fleet

California’s Clean Energy Fuels said December 19 it had opened a new renewable natural gas (RNG) fueling station near Chicago, Illinois that will provide up to 1.4mn gallons/yr of RNG for the truck fleets of Amazon and others.

Located in the Chicago suburb of Romeoville, the station is part of an agreement inked last year under which Clean Energy will build and supply RNG to 19 stations across the US to fuel Amazon’s truck fleet. The station will initially fuel about 100 Amazon trucks, but will have capacity to fuel hundreds more from other fleets.

Amazon is already fueling its fleet from 86 Clean Energy locations across the US, and under the agreement, another 17 are slated to follow Romeoville, 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, Clean Energy’s senior vice president. “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.”

The California Air Resources Board has assigned RNG produced from organic waste an average carbon rating of -317. The 1.4mn gallons/yr of RNG dispenses at Romeoville will reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 15,219 metric tons/yr.