Kinder Morgan’s Southern, Northern California renewable diesel hub projects in full operation

Kinder Morgan Inc. announced April 3 the full commercial in-service of its Southern and Northern California renewable diesel hub projects.

Renewable diesel is an alternative fuel that allows trucks, trains and any equipment that uses diesel to operate with significantly lower lifecycle emissions.

Now in full operation, Kinder Morgan’s renewable diesel hubs are the most-efficient and least carbon-intensive method of transporting this lower-emissions fuel from the Los Angeles refinery basin to San Diego and the Inland Empire and from the San Francisco Bay area to Sacramento, San Jose and Fresno.

The initial phases of both hubs are fully subscribed with customer commitments.

“We are very pleased to be advancing California’s climate goals through our Southern and Northern California renewable diesel hubs,” said Dax Sanders, Kinder Morgan’s president of products pipelines. “These projects present a significant opportunity to participate in the transition to lower-emissions energy sources of the future while continuing to provide fuels still in demand today. We are confident that the best way to serve markets during this energy evolution is through an all-of-the-above energy mix. Pipelines continue to be the safest and most cost-efficient mode of long-haul transportation for liquid fuels.”

The Southern California hub, which provides a throughput of up to 20,000 barrels (840,000 gallons) per day of blended diesel across the two inland-destination truck racks, has been delivering renewable diesel to San Diego since the beginning of February, with deliveries to Colton recently commencing.

The Southern California hub connects marine supplies of renewable diesel coming into the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the Los Angeles market via the truck rack at SFPP’s Carson Terminal and to Kinder Morgan’s SFPP pipeline system for delivery to the Inland Empire and San Diego areas.

The Northern California hub, which provides a throughput in aggregate of 21,000 barrels (882,000 gallons) per day of renewable diesel via the SFPP northern pipeline system from the San Francisco Bay area to Kinder Morgan’s Bradshaw, Fresno and San Jose terminals, is now commencing movement of renewable diesel to those markets.

Kinder Morgan capitalized on existing infrastructure for the Northern California hub, with potential capacity expansions available in subsequent phases.