With the hydrogen option for freight decarbonisation slow to get off the starting block, is the way open for a swing to bio-CNG? John Baldwin, MD at CNG Services, is hopeful that there is. He points to the launch of 2 new 6x2 CNG trucks as a game-changer for the UK, because 90% of UK trucks are 6x2 and that had not previously been a Bio-CNG option.
But Baldwin hopes the UK’s policymakers are also looking more favourably at the option because it is fully developed and available today. There is also likely to be much more readily available biomethane than had been thought. As an advocate for biomethane and chairman of CNG Fuels - a company building and operating a national network of Bio-CNG filling stations – Baldwin claims it as a “less stressful” option for drivers, as no special PPE is required, and he notes that stations can be added wherever the gas network reaches “and the grid companies are very supportive of it as a technology”. He says that there are now 2000 Bio-CNG trucks in the road and 16 filling stations that have a total daily capacity of over 10,000 trucks With the expected growth from the Scania and Iveco 6 x 2 tractors, “the throughput can rocket” as new biomethane comes to market.
Baldwin says there has been some reluctance on the part of the CCC and the DfT to support biomethane in trucks, but “no-one would have thought fifteen years ago” that there would not be hydrogen and electric trucks rolled out at scale by 2025 and the difficulties of obtaining high capacity electricity grid connections.
He suggests that the uncertainty over Bio-CNG arises because it was assumed that it would be a dead end. Very little biogas would be available, so it would only form a tiny proportion of gas in the gas grid, leaving a large carbon footprint from the much-larger fossil gas proportion.
However, he says far more bio-methane will be available than expected. New estimates are that around 100TWh can be produced annually here by 2050. GB gas use is currently seven times that, but it is falling year-on-year and major uses such as gas-fired power generation and home heating are planned to fall to near zero by 2050. Gas network operators are of course keen to continue to utilise their networks and the UK government is concerned to make use of this national infrastructure.
Baldwin says that by 2030 a boost to biomethane levels in the network could come from wastewater treatment works, which currently produce biogas from sewage but combust it in combined heat and power (CHP) plants. But the electricity produced by the CHP plants is underwritten by subsidies from the Renewables Obligation, which end between 2027 and 2029, and that could mean biogas is instead upgraded to biomethane and injected into the gas grid. Baldwin also highlights projects such as Gonerby Moor in Lincolnshire, where Astra Zeneca has joined forces with Future Biogas, backed by investment from 3i Infrastructure plc and RWE Renewables, to sign contracts with local farmers to produce biomethane, CO2 and fertiliser, allowing Astra Zeneca to move away from fossil gas consumption
Energy regulator Ofgem has indicated support for biomethane when it named ‘green gas’ as one of five challenges to be addressed in the next two years with funding from its Strategic Innovation Fund. The first SIF round was launched in 2021 and Ofgem expects to invest £450m in the programme by 2028. The decision on challenges for this SIF followed a consultation on the most important strands of innovation and the biomethane industry came forward with proposals.
The Green Gas innovation strand will fund research around how to incorporate more biomethane into the gas network in a cost-effective way, enabling networks to efficiently manage their injection while ensuring system stability and reliability. Ofgem agreed in its SIF documentation that “The UK has significant potential to produce and use low-carbon gases such as biomethane and Bio-SNG (synthetic natural gas), with projections estimating up to 108 TWh of renewable gas production per year by 2050, depending on feedstock availability and policy support”.
It said “These gases provide a crucial opportunity to reduce emissions while enhancing energy security, particularly in hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as heat, industry, and transport. However, the scale up of green gas production and use is constrained by the capacity and flexibility of the existing gas network.”
Innovation projects are invited on optimising grid utilisation, including advanced forecasting, real-time system monitoring and digital automation, alongside innovations in compression, storage, and pressure management. It will seek solutions for injecting renewable gases into existing gas networks and increase their ability to accommodate green gas.
