Hungary’s first LNG filling station was today inaugurated at the M0 highway within the frame of the PAN-LNG project. “Soon another 4 stations offering both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) will be established in our country, along the main highways,” emphasized Henrik Domanovszky, president of the Hungarian Gas Transport Cluster Association (MGKKE) and coordinator of the PAN-LNG Project.
The investment is expected to be delivered in September 2017. “As a result, Hungary will be able to join the LNG and CNG corridor of the Trans-European transport network (TEN-T). It means that from autumn, it will be possible to fill LNG-powered trucks on one of the most important transit routes of the country. Also, another high-capacity station will be in service for CNG-fuelled vehicles”, Domanovszky said at the foundation stone laying ceremony. He added that soon all neighbouring countries will become accessible through our country for LNG-powered trucks and buses.
EU financing
MGKKE elaborated the PAN-LNG project in order to improve the filling station infrastructure of liquefied natural gas (LNG). It has been selected amongst the projects eligible for the funding of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The primary goal of the project is to prepare the domestic construction of the infrastructure required for the development of LNG-based transportation, to build the first filling stations, and to manage their supply.
“The investment is worth EUR 1.2 million (USD 1.38 million), 85 percent of which is realized from EU sources. LNG-Tech Kft. is responsible for the technical details of the construction of the public LNG and CNG filling station,” commented the coordinator of the PAN-LNG project. He added: “Though it will be the first establishment in Central-Europe – without considering Poland here – in service of LNG-fuelled vehicles, in the following years, dozens of new stations will open in the region.”
Government Support
MGKKE presented the LNG project for the first time at the committee session of the Parliament of Hungary in 2012. The subsequent technical submission was examined in details by the secretaries of state responsible for transportation and energy, within the Ministry of National Development.
The advantage of LNG is that after it is liquefied, its volume takes up only 1/600th of natural gas. That makes it cost efficient to transport over long distances, and also it is possible to store larger quantities. In the case of commercial LNG-powered vehicles, a range of up to 1500 km is now possible.
Local and global advantages
Leaders of the project attempt to raise the bar as high as possible in terms of achieving favourable impacts. The gaseous fuel, a replacement for diesel, decontaminates transportation from cancerous particle emission . It also results in a significantly lower level of NOx emission. Additionally, utilization of natural gas comes with a 25 percent lower CO2 emission compared to petroleum based fuels.
At the same time, natural gas can be replaced with renewable or synthetic methane to an unlimited extent. Therefore, switching to a gas-based fuel serves as an efficient means in the battle of curbing global warming. Leaders of the project targeted the production of such a fuel, which on one hand, decreases the level of energy import with a domestic energy resource, and on the other hand, with the application of a renewable resource it ensures a CO2-neutral transportation for the filled vehicles.
Source: MGKKE
