In New Zealand, Channel Infrastructure (CHI) and Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) have announced that they will progress further investigation into the development of a green hydrogen manufacturing facility at Marsden Point to produce synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF) that could supply 60 million liters of eSAF per year.
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, the two companies said.
FFI will now progress its study to the pre-feasibility 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 firms noted that the pre-feasibility study 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.
FFI has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding 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.
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