Extended use of biogas for city buses will lower emissions, improve inner city air quality and strengthen the role of public transport in an efficient strategy to limit the impact from traffic on climate change. This three year project with a budget of 4,2 million Euros will stimulate cities and regions around the Baltic Sea to use biogas driven buses.
The project will generate strategies and policies to introduce biogas as well as analyse necessary measures in biogas production, distribution and bus operations. Activities will be executed to facilitate further expansion.
A pan-Baltic network of partners will form a show room to demonstrate a sustainable transport system as a step towards reaching EU’s climate goals. The partnership offers an ideal platform for cooperation, exchange and dissemination of knowledge, experience and technology. The partnership will obtain a better position to negotiate with infrastructure and bus suppliers and at the same time raise the visibility of biogas buses. The partners are:
12 partners from 8 Baltic Sea countries are directly involved in the project. Read more
Dependency on fossil fuels has tempered the interest for investment in new energy technologies, which makes public intervention to support energy innovation both necessary and justified. To make 2nd generation biofuels competitive to fossil fuels is a challenge – and biogas is the only commercially available 2nd generation biofuel.
The Baltic Biogas Bus project aims to present cost effective solutions on biogas production as well as distribution and use in buses. The monitoring of economic and environmental impacts will demonstrate a renewable fuel for transport with excellent environmental performance.
Efficient use of biogas buses depends on a process with several steps: production from biodegradable materials (waste, sewage sludge and landfill gas) including purification to get a gaseous fuel (biomethane) for vehicles and distribution, either by trailer or in pipelines. Since the characteristics of biogas are similar to natural gas it is possible to inject cleaned biogas into the natural gas grid, so creating a cost effective solution. Handling of biogas at the bus depots includes creating an optimal refuelling system: a fast filling system that fuels the bus as quick as diesel would be fuelled or a slow filling system fuelling the bus over night.
The knowledge and experience from the project will form a bridge into the next generation of renewable fuels involving hydrogen. Consequently the project will analyse positive synergies in mixing biogas with hydrogen to get the most out of both renewable fuels.
There are good examples of the use of biogas buses in public transport, but wide acceptance and introduction in BSR cities has not taken place yet. Cities are unaware or have incorrect information of the benefits of biogas buses. Furthermore to shift to biogas buses from fossil fuel buses is complicated and a long-term approach is needed. Biogas can be produced from a range of sources and biogas buses can be ordered from several bus manufacturers. Still the missing link for most cities is an integrated long term strategy to work towards introduction of biogas buses.
Up scaling of the biogas bus fleet is the next step. The project will also come up with solutions to overcome the practical barriers for up scaling. Besides that the current demand for biogas buses is too small to create a mature technology providers market (infrastructure, filling stations and buses). The project shall stimulate the cooperation of a growing number of cities with biogas buses to reach improved technology and lower prices.
Who are behind the Baltic Biogas Bus project?