Greece’s Blue Grid, a part of Madrid-based small-scale LNG player Molgas, has started supplying liquefied natural gas to compatriot dairy firm Kolios. Blue Grid says this is the first industrial LNG customer in Greece.
Blue Grid loads LNG on its semi-trailers at DESFA’s Revithoussa truck loading facility and transports it to a storage and regasification station located within Kolios’s premises and built by Blue Grid, according to a statement by Molgas.
Kolios is already operating a photovoltaic park for covering part of its electricity needs, and it is now substituting mazut with LNG for process heat production purposes, the statement said.
The company also plans to soon complete an anaerobic digestion unit for biogas production.
In addtion to Kolios, the next Greek industrial user will be the Elpack paper mill in Fthiotis, again with the support of Molgas and Blue Grid, it said.
At the same time, Blue Grid has already completed the construction of the first LNG filling station in Thessaloniki, Sindos area.
The firm also plans to complete in summer the construction of the second LNG filling station in Athens, Thriasio area, the statement said.
Last year, Blue Grid revealed plans to build four LNG fueling stations for trucks in Greece saying it will launch the first two stations in Athens and Thessaloniki in March this year.
This will be the first network of LNG fueling stations for vehicles in Greece, according to the firm.
Molgas, backed by French infrastructure fund investor InfraVia, purchased Blue Grid in 2022.
In December last year, Molgas appointed the founder of Athens-based Blue Grid, Sofoklis Papanikolaou, as CEO of the group and he also joined the board of directors of the company.
Molgas has significantly expanded its operations in the last four years, including the industrial sector, truck filling stations, and bunkering.
Besides Blue Grid, the group completed a deal with LNG giant Shell to buy Norway’s Gasnor in 2021, and it also bought last year a 45 percent stake in Dutch LNG supplier Titan.