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Gasum, the Finnish energy gas company, has been granted an investment subsidy of SEK 92.6 million (€9.3 million) by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), under the Climate Leadership and Energy Awareness Program ('Klimatklivet') which aims to favour renewable energies and technologies with a lower environmental impact, seeking to expand - in the case of the heavy road transport sector - the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied bio-gas (BGL) to replace diesel.
The financial support granted by the Swedish Agency will facilitate the growth of the Nordic gas infrastructure, as it will help for building up to 16 new gas filling stations around Sweden in the coming years in 13 different regions: Västerbotten, Norrbotten, Värmland, Västernorrland, Gävleborg, Örebro, Västmanland, Uppsala, Västra Götaland, Östra Götaland, Jönköping, Kronoberg, and Skåne.
The subsidy is a significant step in Gasum's pursuit of building a Nordic gas ecosystem that will, for example, expand the use of LNG in heavy-duty vehicles. The investment subsidy will help in opening up to 16 new gas filling stations around Sweden in the coming years.
With the investment subsidy granted by the Climate Leap program, Gasum takes another important step towards the completion of new filling station projects, as well as the expansion of the Nordic gas infrastructure. The subsidy can be used for building up to 16 new gas filling stations in 13 Swedish regions: Västerbotten, Norrbotten, Värmland, Västernorrland, Gävleborg, Örebro, Västmanland, Uppsala, Västra Götaland, Östra Götaland, Jönköping, Kronoberg, and Skåne.
"The positive investment support decision gives us a great opportunity to further grow our filling station network, and at the same time, continue our efforts to develop the Nordic gas market. Furthermore, it brings us closer to our goal of reducing emissions from road transport and moving towards a low-carbon future," says Jukka Metsälä, Vice President, Biogas, Gasum.
Switching fuels in the heavy road transport segment, from diesel to either LBG or LNG, will have a significant impact on reducing CO2, NOx, particulates, and noise emissions.Finland's first LNG filling stations are located in Helsinki, Vantaa, Turku, and Jyväskylä.
The number of gas vehicles is increasing in all categories. Last year the number of gas cars registered in Finland was three times higher than the year before.
