Breakthrough Energy announced a $50 million grant to LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels sustainable aviation fuel plant as part of its first Catalyst programme funding. Catalyst is a unique program by Breakthrough Energy, which convenes corporate and philanthropic organizations funding key first-of-a-kind commercial-scale projects to accelerate the deployment of essential technologies.
LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels project is in Soperton, GA, and is the firm’s first commercial-scale SAF plant and will be the first in the world to produce Alcohol-to-Jet SAF, which will lower emissions by at least 70% compared to fossil jet fuel. Projected to be operational in 2023, this plant will play a vital role in scaling SAF production and bringing lower-cost SAFs to market.
The plant will produce nine million gallons of SAF and one million gallons of renewable diesel annually, roughly doubling current SAF production in the US.
First-of-a-kind projects for emerging technologies often struggle to access low-cost capital because they have high green premiums and frequently face unexpected challenges and costs, especially in the current inflationary environment. In this case, Freedom Pines Fuels’ Catalyst grant filled a funding gap and will allow the plant to maintain its current development timeline.
“Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a new way for the private sector to accelerate the clean energy transition by funding projects that will ensure essential climate solutions get to market on the timeline the world needs. LanzaJet’s new sustainable aviation fuel plant could play a vital role in decarbonizing aviation while demonstrating how the jobs and businesses of the clean energy economy can power communities. We’re grateful to Catalyst’s partners, who understand climate leadership means supporting the technologies that will eliminate emissions and that solving our climate challenges will require nothing less than mobilizing the world’s economic engine to build a net-zero future.”
Rodi Guidero, Executive Director, Breakthrough Energy & Managing Partner, Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
“LanzaJet is grounded in innovation, and we work every day with a sense of urgency to address our global climate challenge. To maximize our impact and scale our technology to deliver significant quantities of sustainable aviation fuel worldwide, partnerships matter. We have a real opportunity on our doorstep to significantly scale-up and globally deploy our technology, and we wouldn’t be able to build this plant as quickly or affordably without Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst grant, which reduced our total cost of capital and is critical to reducing emissions and accelerating the pace of bringing SAF to the global market.”
Jimmy Samartzis, LanzaJet CEO
Aviation accounts for approximately 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually. As a “drop-in” fuel, sustainable aviation fuels offer a crucial way to decarbonize aviation with existing aircraft currently in use worldwide quickly. Produced from a variety of low-carbon, sustainable feedstocks such as agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, energy crops, or carbon captured from industrial processes or ambient air, SAF is a like-kind replacement for traditional jet fuel and is compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure. As a result, SAF can dramatically reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) compared to conventional power made from crude oil while significantly improving local air quality by lowering traditional air pollutants like particulate matter.
Breakthrough Energy’s Catalyst grant joins earlier supporters of LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels plant, which has received funding from the US Department of Energy and the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, as well as investments from LanzaJet’s shareholders Mitsui & Co., Suncor Energy, LanzaTech, British Airways, and Shell.
The plant is being built at a unique moment of opportunity for SAF. The recently signed Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits that will help jumpstart the production of SAF in the US and make clean jet fuels more price competitive. It also includes $297 million for a grant program dedicated to scaling up clean aviation technologies, including SAF.
“The use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a cornerstone of our strategy to decarbonize air travel, and our partners at Breakthrough Energy Catalyst are helping to accelerate promising new technologies to scale SAF for broader use throughout the aviation industry. We’ve been aggressive in our pursuit to acquire and utilize SAF, but the marketplace requires additional innovation and investment to reach the scale we need. Thanks to Breakthrough Energy Catalyst’s investment in LanzaJet, American Airlines—and the aviation industry as a whole—is one step closer to reaching destination net-zero.”
Robert Isom, CEO, American Airlines
“As one of the first global financial institutions to set a sustainable aviation fuel usage and capital deployment goal, Bank of America and Breakthrough Energy are helping catalyze a SAF market to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
Brian Moynihan, Chairman and CEO of Bank of America.
“Decarbonizing the aviation industry using sustainable aviation fuel is a critical part of the global path to net zero, and as a founding partner of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst we believe this investment to expand LanzaJet’s plant is a vital step toward that goal.”
Christoph Schweizer, CEO of Boston Consulting Group.