On Thursday, Aug. 17 Nopetro held a grand opening and ribbon cutting for its compressed natural gas fueling facility at the St. Johns County Public Works facility site at State Road 16 and Industry Center Road. The new station is part of Nopetro’s growing network of publicly-accessible compressed natural gas fueling facilities and is designed to serve both county-owned commercial vehicles and the public.

The two-acre facility consists of a four-lane fueling station that is expandable to six lanes. It features two dual hose dispensers, with the capacity to distribute more than 12 gallons per minute.

As part of the public-private partnership agreement with St. Johns County, Nopetro absorbed all costs related to the construction, operation and maintenance of the fueling station. The facility was completely designed and engineered by Nopetro, providing a comprehensive and turn-key solution to the county’s compressed natural gas fueling needs.

Additionally, as part of its initiative to reduce the use of imported oil, develop regional economic opportunities and improve air quality, the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization provided St. Johns County with $732,000 towards the incremental cost of the retrofit of approximately 130 mid-duty compressed natural gas fleet vehicles.

Under the terms of the public-private partnership, switching from diesel to compressed natural gas is expected to provide the county more than $6 million in savings over the next 20 years. Converting to compressed natural gas offers significant financial savings and stability to local government agencies, as this fuel is less volatile than diesel and gasoline.

Experts also note that switching to compressed natural gas cuts emissions drastically, including particulate matter by 89 percent, carbon monoxide by 70 percent, carbon dioxide by 25 percent and nitrous oxide by 80 percent.

“We are excited about our public-private partnership with Nopetro. The public-private partnership (P3) provides county taxpayers the opportunity to save money without having to make the large infrastructure investments that would normally be required in similar size projects. The P3 is our bridge to leverage these savings and exemplifies an undertaking that is not only environmentally viable, but also economically sustainable,” said Neal Shinkre, St. Johns County Public Works director.

“It is truly an honor to be opening this facility in St. Johns County while furthering our public-private partnerships throughout Florida,” said Jorge Herrera, co-founder and CEO of Nopetro. “It is now time for this county to experience the financial and environmental benefits compressed natural gas provides governing entities and the community at large.”

Visit www.nopetro.com for more information.

Photo courtesy Michael Ryan

Dignitaries including Jeb Smith, St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners chair; Neal Shinkre, St. Johns County Director of Public Works; Cathy Mittelstadt, First Coast Technical College interim principal and Nopetro’s co-founder and CEO Jorge A. Herrera.