Finland-headed gas major Gasum Oy has opened a second gas filling station in Lahti, Finland in response to growing demand. The latest gas filling station is in the Kujala district and serves heavy-duty road transport with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied biogas (LBG). The expansion of the gas filling station network in the Lahti area also supports the city’s objective to be a carbon-neutral already in 2025.
in Finland, Sweden, and Norway by the beginning of the 2020s (image courtesy Gasum).
According to Gasum, the Nordic gas filling station network continues to grow in strength and the gas filling station network in Finland is growing rapidly at key transport hubs. The latest gas filling station in the Kujala district of Lahti and in particular serves heavy-duty road transport with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied biogas (LBG). The station also serves gas cars with compressed natural gas (CNG) and biogas.
Use of gas in transport has increased very rapidly in the Lahti area and the new filling station will further fuel this development. The new station opened in Lahti is part of the Gasum filling station network being constructed for heavy-duty vehicles in the Nordic countries. The new LNG and LBG stations will be located at busy transport hubs, enabling a switch to cleaner fuels in long-distance operations, said Jukka Metsälä, Vice President, Traffic, Gasum.
The growth in the popularity of gas in the Lahti area also supports the objective of the City of Lahti to be carbon neutral already in 2025. Emissions are being reduced through, for example, the circular economy by producing biogas from the city’s biowaste at the biogas plant in Lahti.
The biogas plant enabling the circular economy has been operating in Lahti since back in 2014. Use of Finnish biogas as a traffic fuel and energy production from renewable sources are important eco-deeds which, when carried out together with local companies, benefit society as a whole, said Saara Vauramo, Environmental Director, City of Lahti.
Pontus Stenberg, CEO of Kiitosimeon, a Rajamäki-based transport company, believes that looking ahead increasingly more attention will be given to emissions from heavy-duty road vehicles.
The transport industry has a key role to play in cutting emissions in society and this is reflected in the growing demands for eco-friendliness in the sector. Heavy-duty road transport needs a choice of low-emission, cost-efficient fuels. The new filling station is again a leap in the right direction, Stenberg said
There are currently already 45 gas filling stations in Finland and new stations are being opened in different places, with stations to serve heavy-duty long-distance transport from the south to the north of the country. There are gas filling stations for heavy-duty road transport in Lahti, Turku, Vantaa, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, and Oulu.
Besides these, new stations for heavy-duty vehicles and passenger cars are being planned for Seinäjoki and Kuopio among other places. In addition, a new station will be opened in June in conjunction with the IKEA store in Raisio to serve cars, delivery vehicles and refuse collection vehicles.
