State’s first natural-gas filling station to open in Dublin

Gas Networks Ireland and Topaz have agreed a €1.45 million deal to open and operate Ireland's first natural-gas filling station at Topaz's Dublin Port premises.

An alternative to traditional transport fuels such as petrol and diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG) is natural gas that has been compressed to fit into a vehicle’s tank.

It is suitable for use in commercial vehicles including trucks, buses and vans, and can deliver significant transport cost savings as well as cutting harmful emissions.

Construction of the filling stations, which will commence this month, will take 10 weeks and will be the first in a network of 70 filling stations to be developed by Gas Networks Ireland, the company said.

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With the imminent introduction of renewable natural gas, this Dublin Port facility represents strategic public infrastructure which will be capable of providing a fully carbon-neutral fuel to the commercial transport market for the first time, it added.

Stepping stone

“This is a significant step in the development of the market for natural gas and a stepping stone to carbon-neutral renewable gas in transport,” said Denis O’Sullivan, commercial sales manager with Gas Networks Ireland.

“CNG, and soon-to-be-introduced renewable gas, will play a major role in making transport in Ireland cleaner. Gas Networks Ireland is determined to play our role in facilitating the development of this new, cleaner transport network,” he said.

Worldwide there are 19 million natural-gas vehicles in operation. Of these, 1.9 million are in Europe.

The new Irish facility, co-financed by Gas Networks Ireland and the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility, will have the capacity to fill up to 70 heavy goods vehicles, with each fill taking no more than five minutes.

Gordon Lawlor, fuels director with Topaz, said: " Our service station at Dublin Port is a flagship location for Topaz and in 2016 we announced a €1.2 million investment in a major site redevelopment with Dublin Port Company."