Commercial aviation is looking to SAF (sustainable aviation fuels) to accelerate its energy transition. A fuel produced from renewable, non-petroleum-derived raw materials: municipal solid waste from food and garden waste, woody biomass, fats/oils and other raw materials. In other words, it is based on the circular economy. It can be used already, and is in fact being used, without the need to modify the engines of current aircraft and allows a 90% reduction in emissions compared to kerosene and throughout its life cycle. It is therefore considered necessary to comply with European legislation and objectives regarding greenhouse gas emissions.
The report “How to make Spain the European leader in SAF? Roadmap for the decarbonisation of air transport”, promoted by Cepsa, Iberia, Iberia Express, Vueling and Biocirc (Spanish Biocircularity Association), presented this week, gathers all these arguments and sets out the keys for the energy transition of air transport to put Spain at the forefront of this new technology.
The four companies, which represent all the agents in the value chain from raw materials to consumption, propose the promotion of the production and consumption of this fuel as a real possibility of guaranteeing energy independence and the decarbonisation of the aviation sector in Spain. In fact, they propose making this drive a national project so that Spain can achieve this leadership. To this end, after analysing the current weaknesses and strengths of this technology at a national level, the report proposes 16 economic, regulatory and public-private collaboration measures with which this leadership could be achieved.
Weaknesses and strengths
Price is one of the weaknesses. SAF is currently three to five times more expensive than fossil-based kerosene. Another is the difficulty in accessing the raw materials suitable for its production, due to their dispersion, which increases costs, and regulatory complexity. In addition, current production capacity could cover demand for 2030, but not meet needs in 2040.
This requires developing production technologies and deploying industrial facilities capable of meeting demand and taking advantage of the raw material potential that exists throughout the country. All of this translates into money. This new industry will require an investment of 22 billion euros, regulatory frameworks that allow for the investments and the construction of more than 30 production plants.
The document also highlights as a positive point that the location of SAF production plants close to raw materials would contribute, in addition to decarbonising the economy, to the social and economic development of rural areas, where part of the raw material, such as forest remains, originates. This is also employment and the report estimates that 270,000 direct and indirect jobs would be generated – and many of them very dispersed precisely in rural areas – by 2050. Likewise, the roadmap promoted by the five companies estimates that this new industry would contribute 56 billion to the Spanish GDP by 2050.
What would it take?
The measures being demanded include streamlining permits and authorisations throughout the value chain to establish the necessary infrastructure; economic measures ranging from the creation of a fund of 300 million euros per year with income from auctions of emission rights, to subsidies and tax incentives; and support, involvement and coordination of all levels of public administration, as well as public-private partnerships to promote the production and consumption of SAF.
Margarita de Gregorio, CEO of BIOCIRC, highlighted at the presentation of the report that “Spain is the third country with SAF potential. And the added value could not be more strategic: it will allow industrialisation, replacing fossil fuels with renewable ones and addressing the demographic challenge.”
The issue, Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Cepsa, summed up at the same event, is that “there is a global race to position itself in this new market, which is why we must accelerate the implementation of the necessary measures so that Spain does not lose this opportunity, which is the development of SAF, the main lever for the decarbonisation of the aviation sector, but at the same time it can generate a new Spanish industry that promotes economic growth, job creation and greater energy independence.”
“But the SAF industry is a marathon,” he added. “We have already run a small part of the race, but there is still a long way to go to get into a good position.”