As they say on late-night television “Wait! There’s more!” Benning is planning on building a separate “next generation” fueling site of his own through a U.S. Department of Transportation grant. It will allow for a CNG fueling station for a test fleet of over-the-road CNG-powered buses that would travel as much as 70 miles one-way. There will be a learning laboratory for students interested in alternative fuels. And, it will also include a solar farm that would power two buildings as well as the equipment needed to generate a supply of hydrogen as yet another alternative fuel source.
The idea of hydrogen power has led Benning to apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a hydrogen-electric vehicle that would use fuel cells and travel 350 miles a day, “which is very appealing to us,” he says. This would be a significant improvement over an electric-only version that will travel about 40 miles before needing to be recharged.
If the solar farm works as intended at the alternative fueling station, then Benning intends to add solar power to all 11 of his other facilities, which essentially would take them off the main power grid.
Phase two of the alternative fueling station involves a public-private partnership – possibly with T. Boone Pickens, the legendary oilman who has actively been promoting alternative fuels – to make the facility open to the public to provide access to propane, hydrogen and CNG, as well as electric vehicle charging stations.
Ground for the alternative fueling site was broken in September and, as Benning says, “there’s a great deal of interest in where we’re going with this.”