DESFA launches Revithoussa LNG truck loading station

Greece’s DESFA has launched a truck loading station at its LNG import terminal located on the island of Revithoussa.

DESFA, controlled by a consortium led by Italy’s Snam, said in a statement it inaugurated the new station on Wednesday.

The station offers a “flexible solution for the road transport of significant amounts of energy, simulating a virtual pipeline, to off-grid areas and users, through the loading of specially designed liquefied natural gas trucks,” DESFA said.

This is the “first similar facility in South-Eastern Europe, making Greece a refueling and distribution hub for the wider region, while at the same time contributing to the strengthening of security of supply, providing the possibility of refueling also in neighboring Balkan countries, which do not have large-scale LNG infrastructure,” DESFA said.

The Greek gas grid and LNG terminal operator announced it would build the truck loading station in June 2020.

It has one loading bay for trucks with a capacity of 50 cbm and a loading flow of 100 cbm/h, DESFA previously said. It expects that up to 4,300 truck loading operations would take place per year.

The total costs for the project reached about 7.5 million euros ($7.3 million), according to DESFA.

DESFA received 3.16 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, as well as through the Poseidon Med II Program.

The firm added that the new facility is the first step towards the creation of an integrated small-scale LNG supply chain in Greece, as DESFA is also going to build a small-scale LNG jetty that would also allow the refueling of ships using LNG as fuel, as well as the supply of LNG satellite stations.