The European Union (EU) has granted EUR 2.9 million in support to gas major Gasum Oy for the expansion of the gas filling station network in Finland, an important step towards the creation of a Nordic gas ecosystem by Gasum. New stations are needed to respond to the increased demand for gas-fueled vehicles and to reach the emission targets outlined in the final report by the Ministry of Transport and Communications Transport Climate Policy working group for carbon-free transport by 2045.
The EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for transport, energy and digital infrastructure projects has granted Gasum EUR 2.9 million for the construction of new gas filling stations. With the support, Gasum will continue its determined efforts to implement new filling station projects and expand the Nordic station network.
The support granted enables us to even better develop the gas infrastructure to meet the growing demand. The huge growth in demand for gas-fueled vehicles over the past couple of years among consumer as well as business customers has proven that there is a need for more stations. The transport use of biogas also facilitates the achievement of Finland’s ambitious environmental targets, said Jussi Vainikka, Business Development Manager Biogas, Gasum.
On December 12, the Transport Climate Policy working group under the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications published its final report on actions for eliminating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the longer term. The working group highlighted biogas as a significant element of the solution for greenhouse gas emissions cuts. According to the working group, the gas distribution infrastructure should also match customer requirements.
Up to 14 new gas filling stations
The granted support covers the construction of up to 14 gas filling stations in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) area in Finland. The support will have an impact on issues such as the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in heavy-duty transport.
The stations to be built include both new LNG and liquefied biogas (LBG) filling stations for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) and compressed natural gas (CNG) and compressed biogas (CBG) filling stations for cars, delivery vehicles and waste management vehicles.
Gasum has already implemented filling stations in Salo and Vantaa in accordance with its support application. Both of the completed filling stations are key components of the project entity and the granted support package.
The filling stations for HDVs to be opened in Finland are part of Gasum’s wider network of filling stations for HDV transport. The company is planning to construct a total of around 50 stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway in the next few years in a bid to meet increased demand.
The new filling stations will be located at key transport nodes as regards logistics operations, and they will enable significant increases in the use of LNG and biogas in heavy-duty transport. In Finland, Gasum has opened LNG filling stations in Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Turku and Vantaa.
in Finland, Sweden, and Norway by the beginning of the 2020s (image courtesy Gasum).
