In brief

“After the seven new CNG-powered vehicles unveiled here four years ago, and five more in 2021, today we are adding 15 new buses, also CNG-powered,” explains Sun Novara president Gaetanino D’Aurea with satisfaction at the handover of the Iveco Streetway buses. “In a few months, 13 electric buses will also join the fleet, which can be ‘charged’ by one of our photovoltaic systems.” The new CNG buses were provided and also looked after by Iveco dealer Orecchia to Piedmont’s Sun Novara transport association and arrived just in time for the start of school. “Without these new CNG vehicles, we would have had serious problems providing the school bus service,” says Sergio Gallelli, director of Sun Novara. In addition to CNG engines, the new Iveco Streetway buses have large-capacity tanks (1600 litres) that guarantee high autonomy in all urban operations. The entry and exit of passengers, primarily schoolchildren, is facilitated by the three wide doors (1200 mm), while the integrated low-floor also optimises the change of seats within the comfortable passenger compartment.

The members of the CNG-Club e. V., which is active throughout Germany, have founded a regional group in Hamburg. The non-profit association, which promotes environmentally friendly mobility with CNG from biomethane produced from organic waste, wants to use the new regional group in the Hanseatic city to make the renewable biofuel even better known and to get involved locally in the maintenance and expansion of the CNG infrastructure. “We are very pleased that our CNG Club e. V. is gaining an ever stronger foothold at regional level with the new founding of the Hamburg regional group. Thanks to the personal contacts on the ground, ideas for actions in the field of climate-friendly mobility can be implemented even more effectively together,” emphasises Birgit Maria Wöber, treasurer of the CNG-Club e. V., who had travelled from the association’s headquarters in Munich especially for the founding meeting of the Hamburg regional group. “Thanks to the greater proximity, the members of the new Hamburg regional group can also provide CNG drivers with even quicker and more straightforward support in all matters relating to manufacturers, filling stations or technology. And last but not least, a regional group also serves to exchange information and socialise with like-minded people.” In addition to Neumarkt (Bavaria), Hanover (Lower Saxony) and Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg is now the fourth regional group of the Germany-wide consumer protection association.

After being the first company in southern Italy to use bio-LNG-powered vehicles, the Casilli Group now also offers trucks in its fleet that run on the biofuel Q8 HVO+. In this way, the total of 50 new Scania Super can also significantly reduce the family business’ carbon footprint. The Casilli Group is thus continuing its journey towards decarbonising heavy transport. The Scania Super generation, with a thermal efficiency of 50 percent and fuel savings of at least 8 percent, is one of the most reliable and profitable solutions to achieve specific emission reduction targets. The Casilli Group, based in Nola near Naples, has been involved in sustainability projects for twenty years. “We have various vehicles in our fleet with different technologies that have allowed us to gain important experience,” explains Raffaele Casilli, Managing Director of the Casilli Group. “We are constantly investing in innovative solutions. Of course, we are also looking very closely at electrification,” except that these are not yet suitable for every application, which is why the southern Italian transport company also has various Scania R 500s and Scania R 410s with gas drive in its green fleet in addition to the new Super.

When the creativity of children meets the know-how of scientists, new ideas are born – for example, about what the sustainable world of tomorrow might look like. Together with schoolchildren and the University of Teacher Education St. Gallen, Empa researchers are developing a children’s book on the circular economy, which is intended to get young and old thinking. How will we travel in the future? According to Samuel, 10, we will use solar-powered airships instead of aeroplanes. Lara, 10, sees traffic on three underground levels for cars, subways and trains. Other children imagine cars powered by compost or wind power. And maybe, adds nine-year-old Lars, we’ll take a holiday in the simulator or the cosy warm greenhouse next door and not have to travel so often. For an entire semester, children have been learning about topics related to the environment, energy and sustainable cycles in class and thinking in small groups about how people could eat, live, travel and learn more sustainably in the future. The project, officially titled “Co-creating Circular Futures“, is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation as part of the Agora programme, together with the household appliance manufacturer V-Zug and the business association Swico. The idea for this came to Harald Desing during the Covid lockdown. “I realised that my two sons’ children’s books almost exclusively depicted yesterday’s world,” the Empa researcher recounts. However, the researcher is convinced that it takes more than facts to get society to act: It needs a vision.

Madrid-based small LNG company Molgas has teamed up with LNG terminal operator Enagas to carry out the first truck loading operations at the El Musel LNG terminal near Gijon. Molgas, which is owned by French private equity firm Infravia Capital Partners, calls the collaboration an “important” step in the entire LNG transport chain. In early August, the Spanish LNG provider already bunkered two new LNG-fuelled coastal cruise ships operated by Norwegian shipping company Havila Voyages at the Enagas-operated regasification plant in Cartagena. The logistics services offered for the infrastructure include unloading LNG, storage and also loading. According to Enagas, the plant could bring up to 8 billion cubic metres of LNG to Europe annually, contributing to energy security. The Spanish LNG terminal is designed to berth vessels with a capacity of between 50,000 and 266,000 cubic metres. Recently, El Musel received its first commercial LNG delivery. The first LNG cargo arrived from the USA with the GasLog Warsaw, a Greek-flagged vessel with a capacity of 180,000 cubic metres of LNG.

The two associations VSE (Association of Swiss Electricity Companies) and VSG (Association of the Swiss Gas Industry) commissioned Polynomics, in collaboration with E- Bridge Consulting and EPFL, to carry out a study on the necessary framework conditions for hydrogen in Switzerland. The results show: A strategic perspective, political action and legal framework conditions are needed as soon as possible if we in Switzerland do not want to miss the boat on hydrogen. The EU adopted its hydrogen strategy in 2020 and has been advancing the topic at a rapid pace ever since. The declared goal is hydrogen production of one million tonnes of H₂ by 2024. Switzerland is lagging behind – the federal government’s hydrogen strategy is not expected until the second half of 2024, and specific H₂ regulations hardly exist yet. The scientific study “Energy Future 2050” published last December, which VSE realised together with Empa, and the study now presented show the potential of hydrogen for Switzerland’s security of supply. The study also highlights the uncertainties regarding future hydrogen demand that are hindering a market ramp-up. Daniela Decurtins, Director of VSG, emphasises: “We must set the course in Switzerland now so that we do not let the opportunities that hydrogen can bring for future supply pass us by. Clear political signals are needed, which are currently still lacking.” The study therefore identifies the necessary regulatory and political fields of action, based on possible development scenarios for hydrogen in Switzerland.

Truck manufacturer Iveco and energy giant Shell will soon launch the Bio-LNG Tour “On the Road to Net-Zero Emissions“. This will be a 10-day long-distance tour of Europe aboard an Iveco S-Way LNG tractor unit powered by Bio-LNG/LBG. The tour starts at the Shell filling station Mittenwalde in Berlin (D) and stops at five stations of the existing refuelling infrastructure for Bio-LNG/LBG on the route, which leads through Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. The goal of the Iveco S-Way LNG is to finish the tour with net zero emissions while performing efficiently. The joint project aims to demonstrate how strategic cooperation is driving the introduction of Bio-LNG/LBG in the European fleet market. Always with the aim of raising awareness of the decarbonisation potential of bio-LNG/LBG for long-distance transport. With a share of about 73.1 per cent of all freight transported by land in the European Union, the transport industry is currently responsible for about 9 per cent of the EU’s total CO₂ emissions. “We strongly believe that a multi-energy approach is the best solution for tomorrow’s powertrain to meet the challenge of decarbonising the transport industry,” comments Giandomenico Fioretti, Iveco Head of Alternative Propulsion Business Development. “We continue to invest in LNG-powered trucks because bio-LNG/LBG has proven to be the only mature technology immediately available to provide an economical and affordable green alternative to diesel without compromising on engine performance, range, payload or refuelling time.”

The Brazilian transport company Reiter Log has decided to expand its fleet of CNG-powered trucks. Not just two or three vehicles are to be added to the fleet, but 124 at once have been ordered from Scania. Reiter Log had already purchased the first tranche of 124 CNG and biogas-powered trucks in 2021. To ensure even more sustainability and less CO₂ on Brazilian roads, 124 CNG trucks were added to the company fleet just one year later. “We believe that we are part of a sustainable ecosystem and we thank Scania for allowing us to walk this path together,” explained Vanessa Reiter Pilz, responsible for environmental, social and government affairs at Reiter Log. Fortunately, the company is only one of many customers who are taking this sustainable path. For Swedish truck manufacturer Scania, the partnership with Reiter Log underlines the importance of working together to transform the transport sector: “We are grateful for the trust in Scania and in the focus on sustainability that we have shared for some time,” adds Silvio Munhoz, head of Scania’s commercial operations in Brazil. “We need to find transport companies that believe in sustainability, understand the value and are able to create a sustainable chain for the benefit of society. This is exactly what is happening in our partnership with Reiter.”

Soon the mark of 700^th LNG refueling stations should be cracked across Europe, because currently, according to the association NGVA Europe, 692 LNG refueling stations and 4167 CNG refueling stations are available to transporters and freight forwarders who want to massively reduce their CO₂ emissions thanks to CNG and liquefied LNG or even biogas and bio-LNG/LBG. This is because LNG and, above all, bio-LNG/LBG represent a major opportunity, especially for heavy-duty transport. Energy giant Shell has also recognized this and has just commissioned its 37^th LNG station in Germany to supply the transport sector with liquid gas. It is located on the A3 in Flörsheim, Raunheim exit, near Frankfurt Airport. “With this location, we are closing an important gap in the network for the supply of LNG and, in the future, bio-LNG along the main transport routes for road haulage,” said Sönke Kleymann, Managing Director of euroShell Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG. With two dispensers and a capacity of 30 tons, around 200 LNG vehicles can be supplied daily at this station.

BMP Greengas GmbH, a subsidiary of Erdgas Südwest GmbH and part of the EnBW Group, is, or unfortunately probably was, Europe’s leading marketer of biomethane. Since 2007, the green gas expert has been developing efficient solutions for tomorrow’s energy supply. To this end, the team supported companies in converting to a sustainable energy supply with biomethane, biogas, bio-LNG/LBG, green hydrogen and SNG, concluded direct and long-term contracts with biomethane producers and took care of everything from secure purchase and transport to balancing and failsafe delivery for use in electricity and heat generation, mobility and industry. But the company has now had to initiate insolvency proceedings because, according to its own statements, market shifts and the Ukraine war have made it impossible for BMP Greengas GmbH to deliver the agreed quantities of biomethane. Due to the dramatically changed procurement situation, these quantities were not available or only available with considerable difficulty. The company therefore found itself – irrespective of the increased prices – unable to meet its obligations to customers in full. Various German municipal utilities now fear that they will soon have to pay significantly more for their biogas. As part of the so-called protective shield proceedings, which BMP Greengas GmbH launched at the end of May 2023, insolvency proceedings were initiated as planned at the beginning of August. This is to be accompanied by the submission of a reorganisation plan, which is to end the entire procedure in October 2023 in the interest of all parties involved. After that, BMP Greengas GmbH will have been sustainably restructured and will thus be able to operate regularly on the market again.