Offshore wind developer Simply Blue Group has unveiled plans to develop onshore renewable energy parks to power facilities capable of producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The projects, in Canada, Ireland and Australia will process more than 1.5 million tonnes of sustainable biomass annually to produce over 300,000 tonnes of SAF each year.
Simply Blue Group is developing 500MW of solar and over 2GW of onshore wind farms that will generate renewable electricity to power the REPs, while sustainable biomass feedstocks and water will be sourced locally.
These REPs will be able to produce a range of sustainable fuels but will focus on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and methanol, with future phases expected to include green ammonia.
The three sustainable fuels projects are in the engineering design phase, with the Canadian project expected to be in construction in 2026.
Simply Blue Group believes there is a significant opportunity to produce SAF for the aviation market, with most forecasts suggesting a significant global SAF supply deficit.
Simply Blue Group said its projects are “perfectly placed” to supply this market, using competitive renewable electricity and large-scale sustainable biomass supply resulting in a potential saving of millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year.
Hugh Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group, said: “Simply Blue Group established itself in 2011 as a blue economy project developer and our mission was to work with the oceans to help address the climate and food crisis.
“Our focus at the time was on the marine environment but we realised that the oceans and the land must sometimes work together to achieve a common goal.
“Therefore, it was logical for us to move onshore to develop renewable energy parks.
“In terms of project development, we are deploying the same skillsets we apply to all our business pillars; identifying opportunities and initiating and derisking early-stage projects.
“In Simply Blue Group, we have a hugely committed team of technical experts and visionaries who are helping us do just that.”
The company has a pipeline of 4GW of fixed bottom and 10GW of floating wind projects globally.