Small Scale LNG even in Sicily

On 19 September, the first LNG road service station and the first biomethane production plant in Sicily have been inaugurated in Catania. The distribution plant, also equipped with a biomethane dispenser for cars, was built by the local Nicolosi Trasporti, while the biomethane production plant, from waste and by-products of agricultural production, by Assoro Biometano.

Subsequently, on 30 September, Snam officially entered the "Iniziative Biometano", the parent company of Assoro, with a 50% share. In Sicily, Snam plans to build a liquefaction plant for the production of small scale LNG.

Present at the inauguration and the subsequent conference, ItalScania, which is currently delivering 77 LNG trucks to Nicolosi. The event was also attended by the President of the Region, Nello Musumeci, and the Regional Councillor for Infrastructures and Mobility, Marco Falcone, along with many representatives of business and research.

At the moment the LNG distribution plant, built by Ham Italia, with a storage capacity of about 80 cubic metres, is reserved for Nicolosi, but its opening to the public in the future will not be excluded. As reported by Staffetta Quotidiana, LNG is supplied by Ham via tanker trucks from Marseille - the trips so far have been made by land to Salerno and then continued by ship to Catania - but the route could in the future become exclusively marine (from Genoa or Marseille).

Franco Fenoglio, Chairman and CEO of Italscania said: "What we get from a long-term investment is much more than what we get from speculation. Moreover, we try to give ourselves achievable goals. Germany, with a quick measure, has decided that LNG-powered vehicles will have free motorways"

Aldo Bernardini, HAM Italy: "Actually Sicily will be the only region in Italy that will be able to have biomethane production numbers that will be able to satisfy 100% of the transport on large industrial vehicles that, to date, cannot adapt with current technologies with other systems. But all this must be economically sustainable".

Biagio Pecorino, agricultural economist at the University of Catania: "The production potential of agricultural biomethane in Sicily can be estimated at 414 million cubic metres per year, without conflicts with food and feed activities. But this is not the reality, we have lost opportunities and today there are only 5 small plants".