Clean Energy Buys Controlling Stake in ‘Virtual Pipeline’ Company
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said it has acquired a controlling stake in the “virtual pipeline” company NG Advantage and bought its compression station in Milton, Vermont.
NG Advantage transports compressed natural gas by truck to large institutions and industrial customers in the Northeast without access to a pipeline.
“We immediately recognized the potential in NG Advantage as a powerful partnership combining Clean Energy’s leadership in natural-gas fueling and compressor technology with NG Advantage’s market presence and pioneering delivery system,” Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair said in a statement.
“NG Advantage’s groundbreaking ‘virtual pipeline’ currently brings natural gas to new markets in the Northeast with the potential of expanding to other areas in North America that do not have direct access to natural-gas pipelines,” Littlefair said.
Tom Evslin, NG Advantage’s founder and president, will remain as CEO and continue to oversee operations from the Milton office.
“Clean Energy had the foresight to establish the country’s largest network of compression stations. Although they were originally built for vehicle fueling, they compress gas to exactly the pressure we need to fill our trailers, and we expect many will be suitable for co-location. We look forward to using this network to rapidly bring the benefits of natural gas to enterprises beyond the pipeline nationwide,” Evslin said in a statement.
The Milton station acquired by Clean Energy supplies about 16 million gasoline gallon equivalents of CNG annually and will be the Newport Beach, California-based company’s highest-volume station.
