August 19, 2020. Northern Gas Networks (NGN) has secured a £770,000 (€860,000) grant for essential work to link Bradford’s Alternative Fuel Centre to the gas network.
The work on the facility in Bradford, United Kingdom, will bring the development of a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station one step closer, by linking it to the local gas transmission system operated by NGN.
The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) provided the Network Innovation Competition grant to support the development, an annual opportunity for gas network firms to compete for a pot of £20 million (€22.3 million) to develop and demonstrate new technologies.
NGN’s grant will promote CNG as a cleaner and quieter alternative to traditional transport fuels, which will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.
The plans will see the household waste recycling centre redeveloped by 2021 to provide the facility for the local council and other business fleets, including NGN. In addition to helping achieve climate change targets, the use of alternative fuels will also provide a cost saving for both the local authority and businesses using the filling station.
According to NGN, on average, each heavy-goods vehicle consumes around 14,000 liters of diesel per annum and by switching fuels, the project will achieve GHG reductions of 85% for each vehicle. It’s estimated that this will reduce the council’s fleet GHG emissions by almost 12,400 tons over the next seven years.
The organization said CNG and biomethane will remain a cost-effective alternative to diesel for haulers into the next decade, with the Treasury fixing the fuel duty for natural gas and biomethane for vehicle use at 24.7p/kg until 2032.
