GMC Utilities Group – the Civil & Engineering Company headquartered in Finglas West, Dublin are making great strides in their sustainability journey – not just for their own ambitions, but for the large semi-state organisations they work with.

GMC service utility infrastructure across a range of sectors including water, power, gas, and telecommuniations. The company have recently started trialing HVO fuel as a low-carbon alternative to diesel for its extensive fleets of vehicles and machinery.

GMC Group services utility infrastructure for Gas Networks Ireland nationwide as well as Irish Water (Uisce Eireann) in the Leinster region. As part of the company’s commitment to the goals of their key clients, GMC decided to reduce their reliance on regular diesel and search for a viable, low-carbon alternative to fuel their operations.

The primary operations for which diesel fuel has traditionally been used by the business has been for the powering of heavy plant machinery as well as transport vehicles such as the company’s vans which do high mileage across the areas that GMC services. HVO was identified as such an alternative which had the capability of allowing this transition to take place. So in early 2023, GMC began to trial HVO on over 80 utility crews across the greater Dublin area.

Initially, there were some concerns in making the switch from diesel to HVO including fuel quality and whether or not the switch would produce any operational issues with equipment. However, after 6 months of the initial trial, Shane McCloskey, Director of GMC Group announced that they did not experience any such issues.

The initial HVO trial has resulted in the company removing over 140 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere.