The Palmetto State Clean Fuels Coalition
was recently part of a successful bi-state ef-
fort to secure $12.9 million dollars in federal
stimulus funding to support clean vehicles,
fuels and infrastructure across the Carolinas.
The Carolina Blue Skies and Green Jobs Ini-
tiative will provide support for alternative fuel
vehicles and infrastructure projects, by col-
laborating with five alternative fuel partners
across the Carolinas: Palmetto State Clean
Fuels Coalition (PSCFC), Triangle Clean Cit-
ies Coalition, Centralina Clean Fuels Coali-
tion, Land-Of-Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition
and North Carolina Solar Center. The initia-
tive is also supported by the North Carolina
and South Carolina State Energy Offices, the
North Carolina Biofuels Center, the North Car-
olina Department of Environment and Natu-
ral Resources and the South Carolina Depart-
ment of Health and Environmental Control.
PSCFC estimates that South Carolina can
expect to receive almost a third of the total
grant amount—around $4 million dollars.
While this award contract and amount has
not been finalized with the U.S. Department
of Energy, PSCFC expects that the grant will
provide for the following for South Carolina:
• 18 new publicly accessible E85 stations
• Nine new publicly accessible biodiesel
(B20) stations
• Eight new publicly accessible propane sta-
tions
• One new publicly accessible compressed
natural gas (CNG) station
• 397 light and medium-duty vehicle con-
versions to propane (LPG)
• Five vehicle conversions to compressed
natural gas (CNG)
• One heavy-duty hybrid truck
With the expanded availability of alterna-
tive fuel infrastructure, the Carolina Blue
Skies and Green Jobs Initiative will be able
to sustain itself far beyond the timeline set
for this award. The start-up costs for ve-
hicles and infrastructure installation is one
of the primary barriers to alternative fuel
use. These grant funds have been able to
leverage over a 62 percent cost-share for
vehicles and infrastructure, and will en-
able vendors to contract with retailers and
fleet managers to install infrastructure to
fuel a large number of existing alterna-
tive fuel vehicles while putting even more
alternatively fueled vehicles on the road.
