said. “After a number of these presentations,
municipal officials would ask if they could
buy from us.”
In the interest of expanding biodiesel
usage, the utility now sells biodiesel blends
under their own Earth Era brand.
Earley appreciates the simplicity of FPL’s
fuel program. “The great thing about
biodiesel is it is a drop-in fuel You don’t make
any changes to fixed fuel sites or changes
to the transport equipment. You don’t have
to make any changes to the equipment it
is being pumped into. If one of our trucks
needs to go to a filling station and get
straight ultra low sulfur diesel and then go
back to B20 when we fill it the next time, it
doesn’t matter.”
That flexibility is particularly valuable
in utility work, because repair crews and
equipment travel across the country to
provide mutual aid in the event of hurricanes
and other catastrophes. They switch from
straight diesel to biodiesel blends depending
on where they are and they cannot afford to
have fuel-related issues. “When Hurricane
Irma hit last year, we had a workforce of
28,000 restoring power to customers. We
had over 150 pieces of fueling equipment
doing 14,000 fuel transactions a night and
many of those vehicles were burning B20
with no issues, she said.
The utility also hauled biodiesel blends
in fuel transports to New Jersey during the
“The great thing
about biodiesel is
it is a drop-in fuel
You don’t make
any changes to
fixed fuel sites
or changes to
the transport
equipment.
Super Storm Sandy restoration in 2012. “We
pumped it into vehicles from a number of
other utilities and there were no issues, even
in the cold.”
FPL is particular about the specifications
of its fuel. “We buy fuel at ASTM spec, but
there are some parameters we require a
tighter standard on, including glycerin, acid
and oxidation stability, because we have
hot, humid conditions,” she explained. The
utility works with local biodiesel producers
whenever possible but they also bring B99
into the state by rail.
The utility has a new fuel facility coming
on line in Port Everglades with a B99 tank,
an ultra low sulfur diesel tank and injection
blending equipment.
“This facility will give
us the ability to easily
change the blend level in
our fuel,” she said. 32lbsprotein roduced
for each gallon of biodiesel
Biodiesel Success Stories 39