Repsol and Nortegas Green Energy Solutions have launched the first service station with continuous supply of CNG. The facility is located at the station flagged by Repsol, owned by the Galindo Service Station, in the town of Sestao (Bizkaia). The choice of this location responds to the consolidation of Bilbao as a “strategic pole” for low-emission refueling in the Atlantic Corridor, which links the French border with Galicia from Irún, a route used by about 37,000 vehicles per day.
It is the first station in Bizkaia to have a continuous supply of CNG, without the need for a tank, thanks to the extensive infrastructure at Nortegas, which allows to make an alternative fuel refueling point available to the public. It will have the capacity to meet the demand for light vehicles (cars and vans), as well as medium and heavy urban vehicles (vans and delivery trucks).
The companies have invested nearly €400,000 in the first CNG station of a agreement signed earlier this year, with the support of the Basque Energy Board (EVE) though its efficient mobility grant program. This investment strengthens the commitment of Repsol, Nortegas and Estación de Servicio Galindo to natural gas for vehicles as part of their strategy to foster the use of alternative energies.
The Basque Government’s Minister for Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment Arantxa Tapia, the Mayor of Sestao Josu Bergara, the General Manager of the Basque Energy Board Íñigo Ansola, Repsol and Nortegas CEOs Josu Jon Imaz and Javier Contreras respectively, and Estación de Servicio Galindo’s General Manager Nuria Lekue, attended the opening ceremony.
Josu Jon Imaz explained that Repsol has spent years working on becoming what it is today, a multi-energy company, with the aim of being net zero emission by 2050, the first in the sector to embrace this ambitious target. He went on: “We offer all services around energy and mobility to meet the needs of each user. We are going to continue to advance in all mobility solutions, with the focus fully on the customer”.
Javier Contreras stressed: “We are delighted to be opening the first compressed natural gas filling station with continuous supply, connected directly to our distribution network. We are convinced of the potential of natural gas as a clean fuel that is environmentally and economically efficient. We are therefore committed to giving momentum to its use, along with partners from the sector such as Repsol.”
Arantxa Tapia reiterated the commitment to sustainable mobility driven by technological neutrality and by private-public partnership in a rapid expansion of new cleaner fuel dispensers. Mobility is facing the great challenge of moving towards a less polluting model. In any case, she recalled that natural gas continues and will continue to be our main transition resources to a scenario with greater capacity to generate other type of energies.
In turn, Josu Bergara welcomed “the private and public sectors joining forces to work on environmentally friendly and clean projects in this region that has been so afflicted environmentally speaking.”
Source: Nortegas
