Gasrec, a UK-based supplier of liquefied gas fuel for transport will, on the 1st June, launch a new ‘open-access’ bio-LNG filling station in the country’s South West, at Junction 24 of the M5 (Somerset). The new low emission station is part of a growing national network and will initially supply around 30 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) run by a number of existing Gasrec customers.
Owing to the station’s strategic location Gasrec anticipates strong interest from its existing and other retail and distribution customers using the M5 to access business in the south west.
The facility and others in Gasrec’s network will help HGV fleet operators cut fuel and pollution costs and will assist the government to meet its long term carbon reduction targets and improve air quality, particularly through the reduction in harmful SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions.
“We are very pleased to have the support of a number of our existing customers as we open the West Country’s first bio-LNG filling station,” explains Ben Sawford, Gasrec’s chief commercial officer. “Many transport fleet operators recognise the need to make substantial cuts in their emissions. While HGVs only represent one per cent of UK road vehicles, they produce a disproportionate 20 per cent of carbon emissions from UK road transport and a significantly higher proportion of the more dangerous particulate matter and other noxious elements.
“As news of this West Country facility grows, I am confident many other retail and distribution businesses will see the benefit its location brings in terms of extending the reach of gas powered HGVs accessing the region and through into Devon and Cornwall.”
Gasrec is working closely with retail and distribution customers to develop a network of bio-LNG filling stations across the UK. As the infrastructure grows it provides businesses with the confidence to significantly increase their use of low emission bio-LNG for deliveries across the country. Last year, the company secured European funding through the TEN-T programme to develop, by the end of 2015, five ‘open-access’ stations in the UK – and two mobile stations in continental Europe.
The Bridgwater site will be a state-of-the-art pumped LNG filling station, supplying the company’s proprietary low emission bio-LNG fuel. The flexible and modular facility will have the capacity to supply up to 80 vehicles per day although it will ultimately be expanded to replicate Gasrec’s Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal near the M1, which is now capable of fuelling up to 700 gas vehicles daily.
(Source: Gasrec)
