A 240-job factory on Teesside that will turn household waste to sustainable aviation fuel is among a handful of projects to secure millions of pounds of Government funding.
Saudi firm alfanar's Lighthouse Green Fuels Project, which is under construction on the former Air Products site in Billingham, will get a share of the £165m Advanced Fuels Fund. The plant is among the most advanced of its º£½ÇÊÓƵ contemporaries and the Government hopes this latest funding will help it to achieve its aim of having at least five commercial sustainable aviation fuel plants under construction by 2025.
Earlier this year the firm, which is eyeing two other sites in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, called for Whitehall to that would require airlines to to use a percentage of fuel from sustainable sources. The Department for Transport has said such a mandate will start from 2025 and require carriers to use at least 10% sustainable fuel by 2030.
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Mishal Almutlaq, chief investment officer at alfanar Global Development, said: "alfanar is proud to be part of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s journey to cement itself as a leader in clean aviation, creating quality jobs in its industrial areas as well as developing know-how in this sustainable and innovative industry. Our Lighthouse Green Fuels Waste to SAF project in Teesside is in advanced stages of development with FEED progressing well since July 2022.
"The Advanced Fuels Fund will positively contribute to the development costs helping enable the project to reach Final Investment Decision and enter construction in 2024. We appreciate the Department for Transport’s continued support and would like to thank them for awarding our project grant funding."
Taken together, the Government says the five successful recipients of the fund will produce more than 300,000 tonnes of fuel each year and will cut CO2 emissions by an average of 200,000 tonnes each year, once up and running. Separately, a further £1.2m is being put towards the Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure project that is designed to help airports gear up for new forms of aircraft and can include systems such as hydrogen re-fuelling technology.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: "Using waste or by-products to refuel airliners sounds like a flight of fancy, but thanks to £165m of Government funding it’s going to help us make guilt-free flying a reality. It’s exactly this kind of innovation that will help us create thousands of green jobs across the country and slash our carbon emissions."
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