The move will see Certa’s entire fleet of over 100 trucks run on the biofuel by the end of March following a successful trial in 2022. Collectively, Certa’s fleet travels over 3,000,000 km annually and the switch to HVO is the equivalent of reducing its fleet to 9 trucks in terms of carbon emissions output.
Compared with regular diesel, HVO, which is produced from waste plant matter and emits no new carbon into the atmosphere, offers a reduction in carbon emissions by up to 90%.
Part of the DCC Energy Group, Certa distributes heating oil from its 22 depots across Ireland and began supplying HVO to a range of sectors in Ireland, from 2022, as a sustainable alternative fuel to regular diesel.
Mandated HVO use
Since the beginning of the initiative, Certa has helped some of Ireland’s largest events to go fossil-free including Electric Picnic, The National Ploughing Championships and the Irish Open. In addition, the company has supplied their GD+ HVO product to companies in tech, transport, construction and a host of other sectors.
Notably, John Sisk & Sons, Ireland’s largest construction company, has worked with Certa to mandate the use of HVO fuel across all of its Irish sites.
Cormac Durnin, operations director for Certa Ireland said: “While we are working with numerous commercial customers to help drive down their carbon emission through renewable fuels, we’re particularly excited to be fuelling our own fleet of over 100 trucks with HVO. The transition was seamless, we had no retrofitting on our vehicles to do.”
Reducing consumption
“All our delivery depots are carefully selected and situated within the hearts of their communities which enables us to reduce our kilometres travelled and in turn our emissions. We’ll continue to invest in a dedicated HVO infrastructure for each depot while our ‘Greener HGV’ driver training program is also aimed at further reducing our carbon footprint.
“It is not only about changing our fuel type, but reducing kilometres travelled.”
Speaking at the launch of Certa’s HVO-fuelled fleet, Andrew Graham, managing director, said: “Our transition to HVO fuel for our fleet shows our commitment and belief in HVO as a viable, commercial diesel alternative. We’re very proud to be one of the first Irish companies to make the switch and hope to encourage wider adoption.
“We’re only beginning to scratch the surface of HVO and, in addition to repurposing fleets, we’re also delighted to be supplying HVO to help tech companies power their data centres which aids them in minimising their impact on the national energy grid.”
Retail roll out planned
This is one step on Certa’s journey to a net-zero future that, as part of DCC Energy Group, is focused on building wider decarbonisation solutions for commercial, industrial and domestic customers in line with the governments climate action plan target of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2030.
Recently Certa installed solar PV across four of its sites with a view to a roll out across its wider network over the coming months. In addition, Certa is aiming to roll HVO out as a product on its forecourts as a diesel alternative with a trial set to begin on two sites in the coming weeks.
In the image are Andrew Graham managing director Certa Ireland, Fabian Ziegler DCC Energy CEO, Laura Byrne business development manager – Sustainable Fuels, and Cormac Durnin operations director Certa Ireland, announcing their fleet switching to HVO.
Photo by Sean Brosnan | Brosnan Photography
