ARENA invests $10.4m in two Australian SAF projects
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced investment of up to $10.4m in two projects as part of its Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Funding Initiative.
The agency said that it is investing $8m in Licella and another $2.4m in Viva Energy for separate studies to develop SAF for Australia’s airline industry.
“Aviation is a challenging industry from an emissions reduction perspective with domestic flights currently accounting for approximately 2% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said ARENA CEO Darren Miller.
“These two projects are an important step towards developing opportunities to cut emissions from Australian skies and ARENA will be working to ensure the lessons from these projects help inform the broader development of a sustainable aviation fuels industry in Australia.”
The agency said that the $8m investment in Licella will fund the company’s $26.1m ‘Project Swift – SAF from Sugarcane Residues Feasibility Study’ to complete Feasibility and Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) studies assessing the viability of establishing a biorefinery facility in Bundaberg, Queensland to convert sugar mill residues to renewable fuels.
“We are delighted to receive ARENA’s support as we move forward with the feasibility studies for our Queensland project,” said Licella CEO Alan Nicholl. “Through our global partnership with Shell, we are advancing an integrated biomass-to-advanced biofuels commercial solution, one which is targeting high volumes of low-cost, low-carbon SAF”.
Licella’s proposed facility would be capable of producing approximately 60m litres of low carbon liquid fuels per annum, of which nearly 40m will be SAF.
Moreover, the $2.4m investment in Viva Energy will support the company in its $4.9m ‘SAF infrastructure Solutions for the Future project’ to recondition an existing tank at its Pinkenba Terminal to enable blended SAF supply into Brisbane Airport for commercial use.
“Viva Energy is well placed to import and supply SAF. Viva Energy is a trusted partner to many aviation customers and our strength lies in deep relationships and a nationwide supply chain backed by the international capability of Vitol,” said Viva Energy’s chief strategy officer Lachlan Pfeiffer.
The company also plans to develop a book and claim system so that customers can recognise the carbon reduction benefits of the SAF supplied.
The goal of the project is to supply SAF into the Brisbane Joint User Hydrant Installation and demonstrate the storage and use of SAF within the existing airport.