GreenSky London Biofuel Initiative Gaining Momentum

British Airways and Solena are gaining momentum in their goal of producing sustainable jet fuel with technology partners for their GreenSky London initiative.

GreenSky London is a flagship project that will see the construction of a state of the art facility that will annually convert approximately 500,000 tons of waste normally destined for landfill into 50,000 tons of sustainable low carbon jet fuel, 50,000 tons of biodiesel, bionaphtha and renewable power.

Solena’s technology consortium continues to grow and includes Solena Fuels Corporation which will provide the high temperature gasification process that converts waste matter into synthesis gas and the overall Integrated Biomass Gasification to Liquids (IBGTL) solution, Oxford Catalysts Group/Velocys will supply the Fisher-Tropsch (FT) reactors and catalyst which will convert the cleaned synthesis gas into liquid hydrocarbons. Fluor has started the pre-front end engineering and design (Pre-FEED) for the project. Fluor is a world leader in project execution and bio-fuel projects, and is providing engineering services to support Solena.

British Airways has committed to purchasing, at market competitive prices, the jet fuel produced by the plant for the next ten years which equates to US$500 million at today’s prices.

Barclays has also been appointed as advisor to explore the optimal funding through Export Credit Agencies. A Competitive Letter of Interest has been obtained from one of the Agencies including associated term funding.

GreenSky London has signed an exclusive option on a site for the facility and consent work for the site has begun. More than 150 jobs will be created to operate the facility, as well as 1000 construction positions. The partners aim to have the site operational by 2015.

Robert Do, President and CEO of Solena, said “Our GreenSky London project will provide clean, sustainable fuels at market competitive prices that will help address British Airways’ sustainability goals. The British Airways off-take agreement represents the largest advanced biofuel commitment ever made by an airline and clearly demonstrates the airline’s leadership and vision in achieving its carbon emission reduction targets. We are proud to have created a consortium of world class companies with expertise in the synthetic fuels sector to support our project.”