(NGVAEurope/NGV Journal) The Natural & bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA Europe) has released new data, proving rapid growth of biomethane as transport fuel in Europe. With more than a quarter of the gas used in road transport being renewable, an overwhelming amount of Europe’s 3,810 CNG stations already successfully delivered biomethane to European consumers in December 2020.
In 2020, the leading countries offering biomethane as a transport fuel were Denmark and Sweden, supplying shares of 100% and 95% biomethane at their 17 and 205 CNG stations respectively. They are followed by the Netherlands with 90% (185 CNG stations), the United Kingdom with 80% (10 CNG stations), and Norway with 63% (31 CNG stations). While Germany’s 821 CNG stations already delivered already 60% biomethane, some countries’ biomethane share made a huge leap forward: for example coming from 9% in 2019, Italy’s 1,392 stations already delivered 19% biomethane in 2020.
Today in 2022, European natural gas refueling network consists of more than 4,110 CNG and 499 LNG stations for which a significantly higher amount of available biomethane is already available then in 2020. This includes vast amounts of bio-LNG. For this, sustainable production pathways based on circular economy are largely available.
The European Commission estimates that there will be at least 44 bcm / 467 TWh of biogas and biomethane available in 2030, and Gas for Climate estimates 95 bcm / 1020 TWh for 2050. From today’s production of 22 TWh renewable gas, Europe has a potential of 1,200 TWh. Out of this, 117 TWh renewable gas will be distributed as transport fuel (bio-CNG and bio-LNG), which represents 40% of the overall fleet consumption in 2030.
Current natural gas infrastructure and vehicles are fully compatible with renewable biomethane and are therefore potent enablers of a carbon-free mobility at low system cost, even in the heavy duty long-haul sector, where bio-LNG is a rapidly growing reality.
“These impressive numbers prove that biomethane is a rapidly growing reality, able to support the transition to climate neutrality and the objectives of European Green Deal in a very effective, efficient and especially realistic way – already today. European legislation must acknowledge this fact and support vehicle technologies, using biomethane as a transport fuel by assessing emissions not only at the tailpipe. For example with a Crediting System for Low-Carbon Fuels”, said NGVA Europe’s Secretary General Dr Jens Andersen. READ MORE