Ahead of commissioning of the first phase of its Virginia Gas Project, Renergen Limited’s subsidiary, Tetra4, the holder of South Africa’s first and only onshore natural gas and helium production right, has taken delivery of four DAF CF 430 trucks from Babcock.
Having commenced construction in 2019, the Free State-based project – sitting on a massive production right that spans 187,000 hectares across the towns of Virginia, Welkom and Theunissen – is expected to produce its first liquified natural gas (LNG) and helium in May this year. The roughly R1-billion project will produce 50 tonnes of LNG and 350 kg of helium per day at name plate capacity.
The first phase of the project goes live with two main customers – Consol Glass and Ceramic Industries. The two companies will consume about 60% of the LNG from phase 1, with the remaining 40% destined for the trucking market as part of Renergen’s strategy to drive the dual fuel concept in the local logistics industry due to start later this year.
In fact, Renergen’s own four DAF trucks will be retrofitted with a dual fuel kit, which has been proven to achieve a substitution rate of between 35% and 50% on average, depending on the route and weight of the cargo.