One of Gasunie’s new fleet vehicles – the bi-fuel VW Caddy Maxi EcoFuel
Gasunie, a gas transport company to The Netherlands and Northern Germany, has taken the first steps to convert its fleet to natural gas fuel. The company will begin the conversion with 21 bi-fuel (compressed natural gas/petrol) Volkswagen Caddy Maxis, to be used for the maintenance of the gas transmission network. The vehicles will be delivered in June.
Eventually, all 284 vehicles in the fleet will operate on natural gas.
A Gasunie spokesperson informed NGV Global News that the company will purchase green gas (biomethane) certificates from Vertogas. In 2010, Dutch green gas certification institute Vertogas and the Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) – the German Energy Agency, operator of the German Biogas Register, created a cross-border trade in certified biogas by signing a declaration of intent to cooperate with each other.
The certificates provide guarantees of origin of the gas. Biogas is produced from waste such as manure, sewage sludge or organic waste, then upgraded to natural gas quality for use as a vehicle fuel.
Green gas is CO2 neutral and therefore applies as a renewable energy. Gasunie CEO Paul van Gelder explained, “Green gas is a promise for the future, even when it comes to sustainable mobility. Once we started this year to switch our offices to green energy, driving on green gas was a logical next step in the greening of our operations.”
Gasunie aims to contribute to government targets on renewable energy and CO2 reduction.
(This article compiled using information from Gasunie)
