GAS NATURAL FENOSA will increase its number of CNG vehicle refuelling stations in Spain. The energy company plans to open 50 supply points in the country, in a number of cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Málaga, Murcia, Alicante, Córdoba, Valladolid, Vigo, Gijón, La Coruña and Santander. The opening of these points will bring the total number of the company’s public CNG stations in Spain to 100.
The company is developing a plan to encourage mobility aimed at using natural gas as fuel as the best sustainable alternative, compared with petroleum-based fossil fuels. Over the course of the year, it intends to reinforce the structure already in place in Madrid and Barcelona, and open new stations in Spain’s major cities.
“We will speed up the opening of new service stations in order to reinforce this fuel’s availability in the market, in light of the demand for natural gas-driven vehicles”, as was pointed out by Daniel López Jordà, the Managing Director for Retail Energy Businesses at GAS NATURAL FENOSA. “There is currently no doubt that its cost savings per kilometre travelled are hugely competitive, being up to 50% cheaper than petrol, and 30% cheaper than diesel, which is leading consumers to choose this type of fuel”, he added.
GAS NATURAL FENOSA currently has 31 public natural gas stations operating in Spain, out of a total of 57 in operation nationwide.
Increased use of natural gas as a fuel
Over the past year, sales of natural gas-driven vehicles and lorries have increased by 50%, thereby underpinning use of this fuel in Spain. This, combined with the energy company’s strategic alliance with SEAT, is spurring GAS NATURAL FENOSA to accelerate its plan to encourage mobility and keep the expansion of refuelling infrastructures going over the coming years.
Vehicular natural gas as an automotive fuel contributes to improving air quality, resulting from its particularly low emissions. Vehicles that use this fuel bear the ECO label by the Spanish Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT), and enjoy benefits including freedom of access to city centres at times when air pollution levels are high, as well as tax incentives and tax credits in regulated parking areas.
Commitment to SEAT
GAS NATURAL FENOSA’s commitment to encouraging the use of natural gas as part of mobility is based on the partnership agreement, which was renewed in 2017, with the country’s main car manufacturing company, SEAT. The agreement set out to promote vehicular natural gas through innovation projects, expansion of infrastructure and joint commercial promotion of vehicles and fuel.
Its satisfactory outcomes have served to underline the commitment by both companies to continue working along the same lines, now being extended to include the German multinational’s other brands in Spain; Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda.
“A whole host of synergies and opportunities are emerging from this important agreement. Not surprisingly, we are combining GAS NATURAL FENOSA’s strategies and resources with SEAT and the Volkswagen Group in Spain in order to continue to promote the use of a fuel that is a real alternative for achieving sustainable mobility”, explained Daniel López Jordà.