Methane filling station opens on Bíldshöfdi Cape
Iceland Prime Contractor has delivered to N1 a new, state-of-the-art service station, with a newly opened methane filling station, at Bíldshöfdi Cape. The station is Iceland’s first fully equipped service station for methane-driven automobiles and features a self-serve area for both cars and larger vehicles. Minister of Industry Össur Skarphédinsson formally opened the station by pumping methane into the first vehicle to use the new facility.
Methane is supplied to the Bíldshöfdi Cape station via a 10-km-long pipe from the Álfsnes peninsula, where the methane is produced from landfill gas emitted by the organic waste that is buried there. Processing the landfill gas creates environment-friendly Icelandic-made fuel. Previously, methane was transported by tank, but today it is accessible at the self-serve filling area of the new service station, just like other fuel. New, state-of-the-art service equipment guarantees quick, reliable methane filling. Plans include increasing the number of methane service pumps as demand for methane increases.
Today over 100 Icelandic motor vehicles of all sizes use methane, alone or in combination with other energy sources. Among the vehicles that use methane only are 11 garbage trucks and two container transport vehicles that serve the City of Reykjavík, as well as two public busses operated by Strætó bs. As the price of conventional motor vehicle fuels rises, interest in methane-driven vehicles has increased noticeably.
In addition to the macroeconomic savings represented by the use of domestic fuel instead of imported counterparts, there is a substantial environmental benefit from using methane instead of imported fossil fuels. It requires 113 methane-driven cars to equal the emissions from one gasoline-driven car.
