EU Commission Task Force concludes that CNG and LNG should be more heavily promoted in transport

                                           

The European Commission (DG Energy) established the Task Force Smart Grids with the mandate to advice the Commission on policy and regulatory directions at European level and to coordinate the first steps towards the implementation of Smart Grids under the provision of the Third Energy Package. The expected policy directions will be focused on the period 2010-2020. As part of the Task Force working packages, NGVA Europe was assisting to Expert Group 4 on Smart Grid aspects related to Gas, which concluded that...

"Gas as an alternative fuel to oil-derived fuels (petrol or diesel and LPG) should be more heavily promoted at the European level. The technologies for gas-driven cars are far more advanced than for electric cars and have considerable advantages in relation to efficiency. In order to expand the market for CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) vehicles (mainly trucks), there is no need to create a new gas distribution infrastructure as suitable gas filling stations can normally easily be connected by the DSO using the existing natural gas grids. The public transport area in particular has a high potential when it comes to implementing NGVs in local communities.

An important aspect of the case for the use of gas in vehicles is biomethane. Biomethane should be promoted in the context of smart gas grids, especially since its environmental performance is equal or superior to those for the majority of the liquid renewable fuels, and fares considerably better than conventional fuels. Biomethane produces no sulphur emissions, no particulates and competitive levels of nitrogen oxides. Another significant advantage of the biomethane is that it can be injected into the gas network and blended with natural gas to be used in vehicles.

Natural gas/biomethane has the potential to become the recommended urban fuel. Its advantages in noise and minimal exhaust emissions make it ideal for use in urban fleets: buses, refuse collection trucks, distribution vehicles and taxis. The refuelling of large numbers of urban vehicles would normally be carried out using high capacity, high pressure tanks that are able to fill the vehicle tanks of e.g. an urban bus in a very short time; as little as 3 minutes. These high capacity tanks may be filled by compressing gas from the grid during the night to take advantage of the marginal cost of the electricity used in the compressors."
[see chapter 6.7. NGV (Natural Gas Vehicles)]

The challenge for the Task Force was to jointly agree among the regulatory authorities, regulated companies and end users on key issues such as the estimated cost/benefits, the associated risks and the incentives needed. The ultimate goal of the Work Programme was to identify and produce a set of regulatory recommendations to ensure EU-wide consistent, cost-effective, efficient and fair implementation of Smart Grids, while achieving the expected Smart Grids' services and benefits for the network users. The Stearing Committee, whereof also Eurogas and Marcogaz where members, has approved the EG4 report and the Commission already uploaded it into the web.

The Expert Group 4 report is available on
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/gas_electricity/smartgrids/doc/expert_group4.pdf

EG4 discussions will continue under Marcogaz who will keep Commission informed of further developments and events.