December 17 (SeeNews) - The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) filling station has opened in Croatia, marking a major step on the country's road towards establishing alternative fuel infrastructure, the transport ministry said.
The LNG filling station, which started operations in the beginning of December, is located close to the Adriatic city of Rijeka and is part of a 2.48 million euro ($2.78 million) project, which includes the opening of three such filling stations in Croatia and Slovenia, the ministry said in a statement earlier this month.
"The filling station will have a huge economic and ecological impact since it contributes to the stronger use of LNG in heavy cargo transport, to the decarbonisation of the transport system and to the improvement of the environmental efficiency of the transport sector," the statement said.
With the project, Croatia joins the European LNG Blue Corridors infrastructure initiative, which involves cooperation between heavy duty vehicle manufacturers, fuel suppliers, fuel distributors and fleet operators. Its goal is to build 14 new LNG or L-CNG (liquid to compressed natural gas) stations at critical locations along four corridors covering the Atlantic area, the Mediterranean region, and connecting Europe from south to north and west to east.
The project is also part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport, which is the EU's funding instrument for supporting investments in Europe's transport infrastructure.
In parralel with this, Croatia is building an LNG terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk, which is expected to connect to the national grid as of 2021.
The project comprises the construction and operation of a floating LNG terminal featuring a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and its connections to the national gas transmission network. The terminal will have the capacity to transport 2.6 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.
($=0.8959 euro)