‘UK’s largest’ CNG filling site gets go-ahead

By Categories: NewsPublished On: Friday 10 July 2015

WaitrosetruckThe John Lewis Partnership, the company which operates the John Lewis department store as well as the Waitrose supermarket chain, is set to be among the first customers to take advantage of a new compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station, set to be launched by CNG Fuels in the last quarter of the year.

The site, which it is said will be the largest CNG filling station in the UK, has now been granted planning permission and will be located near to Junction 28 on the M6 at Leyland, Lancashire.

Said to be the first high-pressure connected, public-access CNG station in the country, it will be capable of refuelling more than 500 HGVs a day, says CNG Fuels – or as much as 3,500kg of CNG per hour. As well as standard CNG, the filling station will offer 100 per cent renewable biomethane (Bio-CNG).

CNG Fuels’ Philip Fjeld said: “Our customers can save more than 40 per cent of their diesel cost, even after the recent drop in diesel prices, and cut CO2 emissions by more than 20 per cent by using CNG. If fleets choose to fuel their trucks with Bio-CNG, they will be running on 100 per cent renewable gas.”

He continued: “Because the new station is directly connected to a high pressure gas pipeline we can ‘fast-fill’ hundreds of HGVs a day. We plan to rollout additional public-access local transmission system (LTS) CNG stations in the years ahead, meaning more companies can switch to CNG or Bio-CNG.

“Companies that choose gas will then be paying a lot less for fuel and also making big greenhouse gas savings.”

The presence of a Waitrose regional distribution centre less than a mile away will make the John Lewis Partnership the ‘anchor customer’ for the station, CNG Fuels added.

John Lewis general manager for central transport, Justin Laney, said: “We are proud of the efficiency of our distribution network, and a key element is running a low carbon fleet. We see the use of methane, and in particular biomethane, as the main opportunity to make a step change in the carbon emissions of our heavy truck fleet.

“We’re currently running 44 dual-fuel trucks that use a mixture of gas and diesel fuel, and are also interested in running dedicated gas trucks. The Leyland gas filling station is in a good location for us, and importantly gives us the opportunity to purchase gas with Green Gas Certificates.”

CNG Fuels said it expected many more large UK fleets to take the same path. Other operators set to be supplied by the station include Brit European, which won the 2014 Motor Transport Award for Low Carbon & Efficiency after switching its fleet to biomethane.

National Grid, which will be connecting the station, said it was proud to be involved in the project.

“We believe that the use of natural gas from the local transmission network, as a fuel in the transport sector, can play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the future,” said National Grid network strategy director David Parkin.

“Whether it’s CNG or Bio-CNG, the benefits for use as a fuel in HGVs is clear: lower emissions, quieter engine noise and favourable fuel prices, compared with traditional liquid fuels.

“With our existing local high pressure gas network we are able to provide this innovative scheme the capability to develop and provide more CNG filling stations across the country.”