NGV Global Chairperson Gabriele Gozzi presenting at the Czech NGV conference.
The Czech Gas Association held its 4th Prospects for the Development and Use of CNG in Transport international conference in Prague in February. The discussion highlighted the need for much stronger support for CNG in transport, mainly on the part of governments and regions, and much more intensive media support in CNG promotion and popularisation. Nineteen speakers from ten countries appeared at the conference to share their latest industry experience and knowledge with the delegates.
The NGV 2011 conference registered 146 participants, more than one-third of them from outside the Czech Republic.
Evžen Tošenovský, MEP, sent a letter to the conference participants, in which he noted: “CNG in transport is one of the most attractive alternatives, since it uses the existing engines after only the minimum necessary modifications. CNG is a fully-fledged fuel with octane number 130, which is also incomparably more environmentally friendly and helps to achieve significant reductions in operating costs. If the development of the option of refuelling from the gas grid directly in households is finalised in both technical and legislative terms, CNG will become an almost breakthrough technology literally overnight.”
In their contributions the guests appreciated CNG in road transport, in particular its contribution to air quality improvement in urban areas. They mentioned the urgent need to roll out a well-functioning network of CNG refuelling stations, which is still inadequate in the entire Central European Region. In line with COM (2001) 370, the white paper on European transport policy, they pointed out the EU’s indicative target of achieving an at least 10% share of natural gas in overall consumption of transport fuels by 2020. The actual meeting of this objective is not only up to the NGV industry, gas companies and vehicle manufacturers; it also is a responsibility of politicians at all levels of the EU member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission.
Jan Světlík, Vítkovice Cylinders, a.s. Chairman and representative of the General Partner, presented, among other things, the Vítkovice Machinery Group’s CNG development programme and other products intended for environmental improvements, which Vítkovice Machinery Group offers under the Green Technology designation. He said: “I regard CNG deployment in state administration as the key aspect. The State must first of all make itself, and operators of municipal and regional transport, set an example and prevent pollution.”
Deputy Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic and Deputy Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic, and NGV Global President, Gabriele Gozzi of Italy, were guests of the conference.
The Czech Gas Association was assisted by conference General Partner, Vítkovice Cylinders a.s., and Main Partners: Bonett Gas Investment, a.s./IMW, the gas companies E.ON Česká republika, s.r.o., Pražská plynárenská, a.s. and RWE, and Tvaja CNG, s.r.o./Aspro.
This item compiled using information supplied by the Czech Gas Association.
