Ballast Nedam to Supply Gas Refuelling Installation to Portuguese EDP

Ballast Nedam is to supply a professional home-base CNG refuelling installation to the Portuguese energy company EDP. The company’s target is to run a large proportion of its vehicle fleet on natural gas, and will accordingly buy twenty new natural gas vehicles.

The installation will allow the fleet to be refuelled rapidly and conveniently on EDP’s own site in Porto. The installation will be delivered on a turnkey basis in August 2013 in collaboration with a Portuguese partner.

Ballast Nedam IPM has designed a customized fast-fill refuelling installation for compressed natural gas (CNG). The rapid and complete handling of the vehicles will require the compressor installation to be equipped with a storage facility, and there will also be a specially designed dispenser with fast-fill connector. A release and recording system will also be installed, allowing only authorized EDP users to operate the installation, and supporting the periodic remote reading of volume and consumption information by the company.

The market for natural gas as a vehicle fuel is growing in Portugal. There are only a few natural gas refuelling stations in Portugal as yet, but increasing awareness of the environmental and financial benefits of running on natural gas is creating expectations of a sharp increase in the number of stations over the next few years.

Ballast Nedam has selected a Portuguese partner for the local work. ERI Engenharia S.A. will take responsibility for the permit acquisition, civil engineering and technical installation on the project site. After commissioning, the company will continue to handle the service and maintenance for the station. The installation will be attached to Ballast Nedam’s SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system, which now monitors over seventy natural gas refuelling stations across Europe.