June 30, 2023. Decarbonizing heavy transport largely depends on the use of renewable gases and their derivatives. This is one of the main conclusions of the report “The decarbonization of heavy transport in Spain and Portugal”, carried out by the Technological Research Institute of the Comillas Pontifical University and commissioned by Gasnam-Neutral Transport, which maintains that these fuels have prevented emissions to the atmosphere of 500,000 tons of CO2 in the Iberian Peninsula in 2022.
The study carries out a diagnosis on the current state and the use of alternative fuels in the land and maritime heavy transport sector in the Iberian Peninsula. This is an essential sector to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by mid-century, but it is currently strongly dominated by petroleum-derived fuels due to the high energy density it demands and which converts renewable gases and their derivatives (biomethane, hydrogen and e-fuels) in the solution to face the climate challenge.
Experts point out that 23% of new bus registrations in Spain in 2022 were CNG, while the share of LNG trucks reached 4.6%. However, and despite the fact that these vehicles can already move with biomethane without making any type of modification, less than 1% of the gas consumed in transport in 2022 was of renewable origin.
In the maritime sector, despite the fact that more than 99% of the world fleet moves with petroleum-derived fuels, in 2021 and 2022 a record of LNG ship orders has been broken and said fleet is expected to multiply by 2.5 before 2030. In 2022 orders were also placed for ships powered by methanol (51) and hydrogen (8).
On the supply infrastructure side, Spain has 250 CNG/LNG refueling points, to which must be added 30 in planning, all of them able to supply biomethane without having to make any type of modification. In the maritime field, it should be noted that in 2022 LNG supply operations were carried out for ships in 16 ports in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, Spain and Portugal have an advantageous position with regard to the supply of hydrogen-derived fuels to ships, since a large number of ports already carry out logistics operations with ammonia and methanol today.
Regarding biomethane production capacity, the report highlights that an exponential increase is expected that could be multiplied by 10 in Spain between 2022 and 2025.
