The Director-General of Energy and Mines of the Regional Government of Castile and Leon, Ricardo González Mantero, and the General Manager of NEDGIA Castilla y León, Juan Antonio Pazos Arranz, officially opened the first compressed natural gas refuelling station for internal use in Leon earlier this morning. This station will provide service to the first natural gas hybrid vehicle acquired a few months ago by the Ente Regional de la Energía (EREN) in Castile and León.
With a natural gas compression capacity of 2.8 m3/h and supplied by NEDGIA Castilla y León, the gas refuelling station will be used exclusively by EREN and is located in the car park of the building used by this public body on Avda. de los Reyes Leoneses in León.
To start up the station, the distribution company has put a new mains connection in place that will allow the service station to be supplied and refuel the natural gas fleet owned by EREN.
NEDGIA Castilla y León expects to supply further gas stations around the region in the near future after signing various agreements to develop service stations. One will be in León, and the first public CNG refuelling station in the company’s distribution network in the region, another will be in Valladolid and work is under way to supply a third in Burgos.
At present, the NEDGIA network throughout Spain distributes more than 1,100 GW/h of the 2,600 GW/h of gas consumed as vehicle fuel.
In this region, the Salamanca and Burgos city councils have been committed to using vehicular natural gas for their bus fleets, as well as refuse collection trucks in the case of Salamanca, for years due to the contribution natural gas makes to improving urban environmental quality when used as a fuel . Recently, the two local authorities added 11 new CNG buses to their fleets and raised the number of urban buses running on this sustainable fuel to 57. Other local authorities in the region are also developing projects to bring CNG vehicles to their area.
A sustainable and affordable commitment
Nowadays, vehicular natural gas (VNG) is a real, efficient, sustainable and affordable alternative to traditional fuels for transport, private as well as freight and light vehicles. The 22 million natural gas vehicles in the world (2017) confirm its viability, striking a balance between major economic and environmental benefits by reducing emissions and generating less noise pollution.
Vehicular natural gas improves air quality in cities due to its zero emissions of NO2 and PM10 solid particles, the main cause of respiratory problems stemming from urban pollution. Furthermore, it reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 30% and emits zero sulphur dioxide.
In terms of noise pollution, vehicles running on natural gas produce 50% less noise and vibrations than those running on diesel. This factor is especially important for fleets that operate at night, such as refuse collection trucks.
In 2017, the registration of new vehicles and lorries running on natural gas increased by 112% in Spain, thus guaranteeing the use of this fuel in a country that already has a fleet of 8,700 vehicles consuming an average of 2,682 GWh/year, according to data from GASNAM (the Iberian Association for Gas-Powered Mobility).
Vehicles that use this fuel bear the ECO label from the Spanish Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT), allowing them to enjoy a number of benefits including freedom of access to city centres during periods of restricted access owing to episodes of high pollution, as well as tax incentives and tax credits in regulated parking areas, among others.
Moreover, the use of vehicular natural gas as a fuel represents a significant saving for users, both when buying the vehicle and what they spend on fuel . Filling a tank with natural gas is 50% cheaper than refuelling with petrol and 30% more economical than diesel.
About NEDGIA Castilla y León
NEDGIA Castilla y León is the natural gas distribution company of the Gas Natural Fenosa group in this region, where it distributes to over 440,000 supply points in nearly 120 municipalities via a transportation and distribution network that spans more than 4,200 kilometres. Thanks to this company, over half a million homes, business and industries have access to natural gas for their own consumption.
