PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Green energy developer Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) has announced plans to progress further investigation into the development of a green hydrogen manufacturing facility at Marsden Point, in New Zealand, to produce synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF).

The venture with Channel Infrastructure (CHI) could supply 60-million litres of eSAF a year, equivalent to more than 3% of the pre-Covid annual jet fuel requirements for the aviation sector in New Zealand.

The company said in a statement that the eSAF project, if feasible, would be one of the first at-scale projects in the world to produce eSAF, an alternate to biomass feedstock-based fuels.

“Aviation is one of the few sectors in the world to have an industry and UN-backed goal net-zero carbon by 2050. Airlines are relying on eSAF as the most critical component of the industry’s roadmap,” FFI CEO Mark Hutchinson said.

“This project would position FFI as a first mover in the eSAF market, which we believe is a valuable global market for FFI. For New Zealand, domestic eSAF production would provide a greater degree of fuel security and support development of the local green hydrogen industry.”

FFI will now progress its study to the prefeasibility (PFS) phase, which will include more detailed engineering and design studies and developing further detail on the economic viability of the project, following a successful scoping study that assessed the overall viability of producing eSAF for the domestic market at Marsden Point.

The PFS will investigate a 300 MW, 60-million litres a year eSAF production facility at Marsden Point, with the eSAF to be distributed via the existing Marsden Point-Auckland Airport supply chain.

The proposed production facility would use electrolysers to produce 35 000 t/y of green hydrogen, and utilise a Fisher-Tropsch process to produce eSAF. New renewable electricity generation projects would be developed with a range of partners to provide the power required.

FFI has entered into memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with renewable energy generators including Mercury, Manawa Energy, Top Energy and Yinson Renewables to support the provision of renewable electricity.

The eSAF would be blended onsite at Marsden Point with imported Jet-A1 for integration into the Marsden Point-Auckland Airport supply chain.

The PFS will include further analysis of the project’s benefits to New Zealand, including the potential provision of large-scale demand response, enabling power to be released to the grid when most needed. This can support grid reliability and benefit consumers with lower market power prices.

FFI has also signed an MoU with Air New Zealand to further their mutual interest in investigating eSAF production and eventual use in New Zealand, with the initial focus being on Air New Zealand becoming the foundation customer for eSAF produced through the Marsden Point project once it becomes commercially available and economically viable.

FFI said in a statement that the PFS phase of the project was being supported by the government through the government agency Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Underpinning government support is the potential demand response benefits that the facility could provide to the electricity market and ultimately New Zealand businesses and households. FFI noted that demand response, at this scale, could accelerate the uptake of renewable energy and would play an important role in the transition to a low-emissions economy. 

EECA is also supportive of developing a greater understanding of the opportunity to domestically produce eSAF, made from renewable sources of energy, and the decarbonisation opportunity eSAF could provide to the aviation sector in New Zealand.

“This is exactly the kind of world-leading innovation that could make a big difference in low-emission transport and travel. Our government is pleased to support the investigation of technologies that will help shift us away from the use of fossil fuels, and toward a highly renewable energy system,” Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods said.