THE Meander Valley Council has approved the development of a liquid natural gas truck refuelling plant near Westbury which will be the first of its type in Australia.
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The LNG plant is part of a project to convert about 120 of the State's trucks over the gas.
BOC general operations manager Alex Dronoff said the Tasmanian plant would pave the way for the implementation of similar LNG projects nationwide.
"Combined with last month's approval by Tasmania's Environmental Protection Authority, todays development application approval shows governments are willing to support LNG as truckings fuel of the future.
"Being a national company that is part of an international group we have the knowledge and experience to implement similar operations throughout Australia," he said.
BOC is part of the Linde Group which designs, constructs and operates micro-LNG plants for domestic transport.
"The construction and ongoing operation of this plant represents a $150 million confirmation of the commercial merits of natural gas as an alternative to diesel for Tasmanian road transport," Mr Dronoff said.
"LNG is an ideal fuel for transport operators because of its stable price. Furthermore, LNG releases up to 25 per cent less greenhouse gases compared to diesel powered trucks."
The Westbury LNG plant will have the capacity to produce 50 tonnes of LNG a day which is equivalent of 70,000 litres of conventional diesel.
All production from the plant will be used to supply LNG Refuellers Pty Ltd, a consortium comprising seven Tasmanian transport operators that operate over 120 natural gaspowered heavy vehicles.
