UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was briefed on one Saudi firm’s plans to help ease the energy transition.
Saudi-based alfanar is investing SAR5 billion ($1.3 billion) to develop sustainable aviation fuel at their Teesside, North East project in the UK. The project, titled Lighthouse Green Fuel, will produce sustainable aviation fuel from waste.
The project should produce over 180 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel a year in the UK. The company said in a press release that this should be sufficient to operate around 15,000 flight per year and remove more than 700,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
The project is part of the company’s Green Energy Development programme which is spread around the world.
Calls have risen in recent years to embrace the energy transition, reduce the amount of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere and prevent catastrophic climate change.
While some sectors lend themselves to electrification, making them easier to decarbonise, some are much more difficult. Air transport is one example, with aircraft requiring dense, energy-rich fuel sources. Production of sustainable aviation fuel is thus one way in which carbon emissions can be lowered.