First city in Québec converts its vehicles to natural gas and to produce renewable natural gas

Gaz Métro is also proud to include the city of Saint-Hyacinthe as its first client municipality to have selected natural gas to fuel its municipal vehicles. Note that this fall Gaz Métro announced the signing of an agreement in principle with Saint-Hyacinthe for the purchase of surplus renewable natural gas produced by the city’s biomethanization centre for injection into its distribution network. This project was submitted to Québec’s Régie de l’énergie for approval. To date, it is the organic materials of citizens and businesses of the 23 municipalities taking part in the brown bin program that could be processed to supply the first municipal vehicle fleet with renewable natural gas, in addition of being the privileged source of energy to heat municipal buildings.

“Gaz Métro is proud to use its gas network for this promising project, to allow all its clients to take advantage of locally produced renewable natural gas,” states Martin Imbleau, Vice President, Development and Renewable Energies at Gaz Métro. “Choosing this energy to fuel vehicles is another step toward the intelligent and systematic recovery of organic materials in Québec, by creating an infinitely renewable cycle. We hope that this project will inspire many other municipalities to follow suit.”

Note that natural gas generates savings on fuel of up to 40% compared with diesel, in addition to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 25%. By opting for renewable natural gas as a fuel, GHG emissions decrease by more than 99.4%, considering the fuel’s complete life cycle.

Gaz Métro has been working with many partners and road transport companies since 2010 to make sure Québec carriers benefit from the major economic and environmental advantages of switching from oil products to natural gas. To date, there are 350 natural gas vehicles on Québec’s roads.

About Gaz Métro

With more than $5 billion in assets, Gaz Métro is a leading energy provider. It is the largest natural gas distribution company in Québec, where its network of over 10,000 km of underground pipelines serves 300 municipalities and more than 190,000 customers. Gaz Métro is also present inVermont, where it has more than 305,000 customers. There, it operates in the electricity production market and the electricity and natural gas distribution market. Gaz Métro is actively involved in the development of innovative, promising energy projects such as the production of wind power, the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel and the development of biomethane. Gaz Métro is a major energy sector player that takes the lead in responding to the needs of its customers, regions and municipalities, local organizations, and communities while also satisfying the expectations of its Partners (GMi and Valener) and employees.