Calor LNG Road Tankers First to Top-Up at Commercial Loading Facility
16/11/2015 Calor Gas Ltd
The UK's first commercial terminal capable of dispensing Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to road tankers opened for business today on the Isle of Grain, Kent, with Calor being the first customer to receive a shipment of this increasingly popular fuel source.The new loading facility has two road tanker bays, each of which is capable of loading 36 LNG tankers a day. Calor tankers have already taken advantage of this, loading up with LNG, which will be used to supply its off-grid customers and to keep Calor's LNG public refuelling network, the largest in the UK, topped-up at all times.
Owned and operated by National Grid, the Isle of Grain terminal is based 43 miles east of London and is positioned close to major transport routes for both southeast England and continental Europe. It has the largest capacity of any import facility in Europe and is able to handle 15m tonnes of gas each year, enough to supply 20 per cent of the UK's overall forecast gas demand.
An Established Fuel Source
Mark Gilks, Calor LNG Transportation sales manager, explains: "Calor's LNG sales have grown considerably over the past 18 months, mostly in the transportation and off-grid energy sectors.
"The opening of this terminal is a crucial stage in the anticipated widespread adoption of LNG as a significant long-haul transport and energy fuel source. It marks a formal commitment to LNG availability in the UK market.
"Being the first LNG supplier to take product from the Isle of Grain loading facility shows the importance of the fuel to Calor and our confidence in its growth within the UK."
PrimaLNG, Calor's sister company has signed a commercial agreement with Centrica, to purchase LNG from the Isle of Grain facility.
Centrica's Global Head of LNG, Jonathan Westby said, "Our ambition is to grow our LNG business across the entire gas value chain and this relationship underlines the flexible role that LNG can play in the UK's energy market - in particular for off-grid customers and heavy road transport. With LNG becoming an alternative vehicle fuel, it will also play a critical role in reducing heavy vehicle emissions.
"We look forward to developing this market further with both PrimaLNG and Calor."
One Fuel, Many Uses
LNG takes up 600 times less space than conventional natural gas making it easy to transport and store compactly in its liquid form.
This means that LNG can supply customers with clean, reliable and cost-effective energy even if they are based off the natural gas grid, making it ideal for commercial and industrial applications in need of heat, steam or process-energy. Depending on the application, LNG emits up to 25 per cent less carbon dioxide than diesel or oil based products.
Calor offers full turnkey solutions within the off-grid industrial and market sectors, supporting customers looking to make the switch from oil to gas.
With the potential for offering significant cost and CO2 reductions, not to mention it clean-air benefits, LNG is also enjoying increased popularity as a fuel for heavy goods vehicles and shipping.
Calor is already committed strongly to this sector and operates the largest publically accessible LNG road-refuelling network across the UK, with development plans in place to expand this network further over the coming 18 months.
For more information, please visit: www.calor.co.uk
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