Simply Blue Group to set up SAF plants in Australia, Ireland and Canada

Irish offshore wind project developer Simply Blue Group announced that they are developing onshore renewable energy parks to power facilities capable of producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

“We recognised the sustainable fuels market opportunity a couple of years ago and were able to make the connection that others couldn’t, by integrating large scale power generation with biomass conversion to produce sustainable fuel. We have been busy building an exceptional development team and assembling strategic sites of land and biomass feedstock,” said Michael Galvin, director of hydrogen and sustainable fuels, Simply Blue Group.

The projects, in Ireland, Australia and Canada will process more than 1.5m tonnes of sustainable biomass annually to produce over 300,000 tonnes of SAF each year.

The company said its sustainable fuels will be produced in onshore Renewable Energy Parks (REPs) focusing on renewable liquid fuels for aviation, marine vessels and chemical feedstocks.

These REPs will be able to produce a range of sustainable fuels but will focus on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and methanol, with future phases expected to include green ammonia.

The company said its three sustainable fuels projects are currently in engineering design phase, with the Canadian project expected to be in construction in 2026.

It further said that it has a significant opportunity to produce SAF for the aviation market, with most forecasts suggesting a significant global SAF supply deficit.