UK gas supplier Calor earns RTFCs from imported bio-LPG

UK gas distributor Calor is claiming Renewable Transport Fuel Certificates for by-product liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in the Netherlands, breaking new ground for the UK’s renewables incentives scheme.

Calor said that the company last week took delivery of bio-LPG produced from biomethane that is a by-product of Finnish biofuels producer Neste’s biodiesel plant in Rotterdam.

“We’ll be claiming RTFCs for these, and in addition we’ll be claiming for Greenhouse Gas Certificates on the imported LPG from April, under the recently revised GHG Directive, when that scheme is expected to launch for the transport sector,” said Paul Blacklock, head of strategy at Calor.

The gas distributor is a major supplier of gas to non-road mobile machinery such as forklift trucks and the sector is likely to be a keen buyer of bio-LPG to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and particulate emissions from other fuels such as diesel.  

Calor’s sourcing of bio-LPG from outside the UK is one of a handful of cross-border deals in a trade that is likely to see more imports of renewable gas into the UK to earn RTFCs for companies using these alternative fuels in transport.

Gas supplier CNG Fuels has previously imported biomethane from Hungary to sell in its gas filling stations and there are reports that other suppliers have imported biomethane from elsewhere in Europe.

Companies that source alternative fuels such as bio-LPG can earn 1.75 RTFCs per kilogramme of fuel.

Under the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO), suppliers of transport fuel in the UK must be able to show that a percentage of the fuel they supply comes from renewable and sustainable sources.

Fuel suppliers who supply at least 450,000 litres of fuel a year are affected and include suppliers of biofuels as well as suppliers of fossil fuels, according to the Department of Transport’s website.