Biomethane supplier ReFuels has opened its 11th refuelling station under the CNG Fuels brand, at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.
The new station is owned by a joint venture with Foresight Group, and expands ReFuel’s UK-wide network of public-access refuelling stations to include major trucking routes in north-east England
It will provide customers such as Lidl, DHL, and GBA Services access to low-carbon biomethane to minimise the greenhouse gas footprint of their logistics operations.
The new station comprises 14 fuel pump islands, allowing more than 60 trucks to be refuelled per hour with a total capacity of more than 27 million kilograms (kg) of bio-CNG annually, making it CNG Fuels’ highest capacity station to date. It will serve local and passing fleets using the A1(M) and will introduce fleets from Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and Darlington to Bio-CNG as a transport fuel for HGVs.
The current CNG Fuels network in the UK can refuel more than 5,500 HGVs daily. This equals an annual dispensing capacity of more than 240,000 tonnes of biomethane annually and a potential saving of up to 642,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually when compared to diesel.
The company has a target for the end of 2025 of 30-40 stations in operation, with a total capacity of up to 15,000 HGVs per day and about 600 million kg annually. Another two stations are currently under construction, due to start operations in the coming months, and at least four further stations are expected to commence construction during the calendar year.
Philip Fjeld, CEO and co-founder of ReFuels, commented: “We see strong demand from our customers for our 100% renewable and sustainable biomethane, produced from waste feedstocks, which enables heavy truck operators to reduce emissions by more than 90% compared to diesel.
“The new site at Newton Aycliffe is part of our strategy of growing as the leading integrated supplier of alternative fuels in the UK with a target of having 30-40 stations in operation towards the end of 2025, and longer-term expanding into other European markets.”
Jason Wild, senior consultant – distribution and recycling at Lidl GB, said: “Lidl is committed to reducing our carbon emissions across the company and over the past few years we have been gradually switching our HGV fleet to run on 100% renewable and sustainable biomethane.
“Bio-CNG enables us to significantly reduce our transport emissions by up to 90% versus our diesel trucks, and the development of CNG Fuels’ latest station in Newton Aycliffe allows for the further adoption of Bio-CNG at our depot close to this new site, and will furthermore open up additional transport routes for the north-east region of the UK.”
