First methane gas buses for Estonia travel in the roads of Tartu

NGVA Europe member Monus Minek supported the first CNG bus project in Estonia in the city of Tartu. Currently Tartu is the city that has probably the most modern bus fleet in Europe. The oldest urban line bus is just three months old. As Tartu promotes environmentally friendly way of thinking, the new gas fuelled buses complement this idea perfectly. The Mayor of Tartu, Urmas Kruuse, considers environment-friendly attitude to be one of the main trends of Tartu city.

Five new gas buses were presented in Tartu on March 3rd of 2011, which will be used as permanent urban line buses for the first time in Estonia. For the time being these will use compressed natural gas (CNG) for fuel, but in the near future the buses should start using biomethane, which will be produced from local waste and other biomass.

How it all started
Tartu city is known as an innovative and environment-friendly city in Estonia. The slogan of Tartu is "City of Good Thoughts". And we have good ideas in abundance. Tartu city has been looking for opportunities to introduce gaseous fuels for the last four years already.  When in 2008, the only partner representing Estonia in NGVA Europe, OÜ Mõnus Minek, performed a study, commissioned by Tartu Veevärk and Tartu City Government, on the possibilities to use biomethane produced from sewage sludge, then one of the recommendations in the report was to include a condition in the regular services procurement that would concern the introduction of methane gas buses. And so it took off. Moreover, "the amount of biogas produced only from the sewage sludge of AS Tartu Veevärk enables to operate 12 biomethane buses and additionally if one were to use all the biowaste and -mass of the surrounding areas then in the long term it would be possible to operate all Tartu's buses with biogas," said Ahto Oja from OÜ Mõnus Minek.

International cooperation has helped
In 2009 Tartu city joined the "Baltic Biogas Bus" project, part-financed by the Baltic Sea Region Programme of the European Region Development Fund. The leading partner of the project is AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, which is a public transport company in Stockholm. The company has extensive experience in the field and is known for its environment-friendly attitude. The aim of the project is to encourage the use of biogas in urban transport, with an objective to support green environment. The project creates strategies to introduce usage possibilities of biogas as a fuel and to develop biogas production-distribution on local level. EACI-funded "GasHighWay" project has similar objectives for entire Estonia. OÜ Mõnus Minek represents Estonia in this project and close cooperation is done to promote the use of methane gas vehicles in Estonia. Tartu is an example to all Estonian cities!

The environment-friendly aspect of the use of methane gases
The need to ensure the cleanliness of air in cities has been the driver in many Scandinavian and European cities to run the urban buses on biomethane. Currently the people and the environment have profited the most. Chief Executive of OÜ Mõnus Minek, Ahto Oja, thinks that gaseous biofuels, incl. biomethane could solve the air pollution problem in Estonia's big cities – the emission of solid particles from diesel engines that exceeds the norm would decrease 100% and the amounts of other pollutants would also be 12-70% smaller. Cleaner city air is better for nature and for respiratory tracts of people. Chairman of the Management Board of Sebe AS, Kuldar Väärsi, said that it is possible to tell only after the buses have been taken to use to what extent the gas buses will be economically feasible in Tartu.

“Indeed, five gas buses will be used on urban lines of Tartu very soon and this is an extraordinary event for entire Estonia," said happy Deputy Mayor Margus Hanson, when commenting the permanent use of gas buses on urban lines for the first time in Estonia. “Currently the buses use natural gas for fuel, but later plans include the introduction on purified biogas or biomethane as a renewable energy source, which can be produced in Tartu region for instance from organic waste or sewage sludge. For example, a local water company is making preparations to produce biogas and that would in turn reduce dependence on the gas prices in the world market. If everything goes well and the gas buses prove themselves to be worthy then I would not exclude even the possibility that only gas buses are asked for in the next regular services procurement," said Hanson.

The introduction of gas buses was an incentive to construct a gas station in Tartu.
AS Eesti Gaas constructed Estonia’s second compressed gas station in Tartu to enable the operation of gas buses in Tartu. Currently the station is being set up and everything should be done and completed in March when the buses are to be used on urban lines.
Tartu Deputy Mayor, Margus Hanson, said that the City Government is very pleased that Eesti Gaas found a suitable place. ”The gas company is interested in sales and the bus company in fuel. The companies reached an agreement and the City Government was only acting in a supportive role," explained Hanson.
“Changes don’t take place easily”, stated Hanson and added that the requirement concerning the use of gas buses was included by the City Government to the regular services procurement specifically to change the longstanding notion. Actually, the city accepted this obligation when it decided to participate in the international project "Baltic Biogas Bus", which is part-financed by the EU. The next step would be that a waste handling company could consider adopting gas transport," said Hanson.

Tartu sets an example for entire Estonia
According to Ahto Oja Tartu is a model for entire Estonia and a political decision needs to be made to introduce methane gas buses gradually into use elsewhere in Estonia, including in the capital, Tallinn.

Source:
Jaanus Tamm, Tartu City Government, Baltic Biogas Bus project manager, Ahto Oja, OÜ Mõnus Minek. Estonian partner of the EACI GasHighWay project ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , phone:+372 5082990)

Find more info on the Baltic Biogas Bus project on: http://www.balticbiogasbus.eu/web/

NGVA Europe... for sustainable mobility