A new ‘open access’ bio-LNG filling station will be opened at junction 24 of the M5, at Bridgwater in Somerset, on June 1.

It is being opened by Gasrec, which already has a network of 10 bio-LNG refuelling stations with a range of transport customers including B&Q, Brit European, DHL, Hermes, Kuehne + Nagel, Lenham, Muller Wiseman, Sainsburys, Stobart Group, Tenens, Tesco and Waitrose.

The new low emission station will initially supply around 30 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) run by a number of existing Gasrec customers.

“We are very pleased to have the support of a number of our existing customers as we open the West Country’s first bio-LNG filling station,” said Ben Sawford, Gasrec’s chief commercial officer.

“Many transport fleet operators recognise the need to make substantial cuts in their emissions. While HGVs only represent 1% of UK road vehicles, they produce a disproportionate 20% of carbon emissions from UK road transport and a significantly higher proportion of the more dangerous particulate matter and other noxious elements.

“As news of this West Country facility grows, I am confident many other retail and distribution businesses will see the benefit its location brings in terms of extending the reach of gas powered HGVs accessing the region and through into Devon and Cornwall.”

Gasrec is working to develop a network of bio-LNG filling stations across the UK, and last year it secured European funding to develop, by the end of 2015, five ‘open-access’ stations in the UK - and two mobile stations in continental Europe. 

The Bridgwater site will have the capacity to supply up to 80 vehicles per day, although it will ultimately be expanded to replicate Gasrec’s Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal near the M1, which is now capable of fuelling up to 700 gas vehicles daily.