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Baltic Biogas Bus: Increase the use of biogas buses in public transport to reduce the emissions in urban areas in the Baltic Sea Region (Baltic Biogas Bus)
Start date: Aug 31, 2009, End date: Sep 8, 2012 PROJECT  FINISHED 

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 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. Partners in the Baltic Sea Region will form a show room to demonstrate a sustainable transport system with the potential to reach the EU’s climate goals. The group of partners involved represents most of the countries within the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). The partnership offers an ideal platform for dissemination of knowledge, experience and technology. A broad set of associated organisations in each country will reinforce the processes of information. Through the pan-Baltic network the partners will obtain a better position to negotiate with infrastructure and bus suppliers and at the same time raise the visibility of biogas buses. 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. Achievements: Apart from setting up management routines, the BBB-project focused on communication issues and establishing important relations with different stakeholders during the first period. A launch event of the project was held in Tartu, where both the minister for environment of Estonia and the representative of the European commission in Estonia gave speeches. During the seminar the project website and the logotype were presented. The BBB-project co-organised the biannual Nordic biogas conference which was held in Oslo in March. Several hundred participants from different European countries were informed about the project and of some of the best practices presented by BBB-partners. These best practices were also presented at Gasskonferansen in Bergen, Norway, which attracted 194 participants. Partly thanks to lobbying and information activities by the project, the county of Hordaland in western Norway has decided to purchase 75 biogas buses and build a biogas production plant in Bergen. A decision has also been made by the project partner in Oslo to buy new biogas buses for public transport. In Tartu, the process of formulating a transport plan for the city including biogas buses as part of the solution has been initiated. Moreover, the results from a feasibility study has led to the construction of the first filling station of compressed gas in Tartu. In northern Germany project partners have started discussions with several providers of public transport on how to introduce biogas buses and in Poland an agreement has been signed with the city council of Rzeszow regarding cooperation on how to introduce biogas buses in public transport. The project has drafted several reports, which are receiving second opinions from other project partners. The preliminary results from reports are being disseminated in regional seminars arranged through the project. Project partners are continuously giving presentations about the BBB-project at several different seminars and workshops, both internally within the project and externally. The Baltic Biogas Bus project has been featured in magazines and newspapers during the period. The Mid Event Symposium and a second International seminar in St. Petersburg has been conducted.

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Details

  • 65.1%   2 716 721,29
  • 2007 - 2013 Baltic Sea Region
  • Project on KEEP Platform
Project Website

11 Partners Participants