Jet Zero Australia has expressed enthusiasm for a $14 million (€12.5 million) grant from the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments to advance Project Ulysses, its flagship sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) initiative based in Townsville.
The funding, announced jointly by the governments, includes $9 million (€8 million) from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of its Advancing Renewables Program, along with $5 million (€4.5 million) from the Queensland Government under the Queensland New-Industry Development Strategy (QNIDS). This investment aims to enhance local production capabilities and establish SAF value chains in Queensland.
Project Ulysses is set to transform Australia’s agricultural by-products into 102 million litres of SAF and 11 million litres of renewable diesel annually. This grant marks the largest government funding commitment ever made for a SAF project in Australia’s history.
This announcement follows more than $30 million (€27 million) in private investments in Jet Zero Australia from partners including Qantas, Airbus, and Idemitsu Kosan. The funding will facilitate the completion of Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) activities and advance the large-scale commercial deployment of Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) SAF technology.
Ed Mason, CEO of Jet Zero Australia, stated that the project aims to begin production by 2027. “Implementing Project Ulysses will enable Australia to harness the economic benefits of a domestic SAF industry, projected to be worth $10 billion annually and to create up to 26,200 jobs nationwide by 2030, with regional areas particularly well-positioned to benefit,” Mason said.
He also noted that today’s grant builds on an earlier $760,000 grant from the Department of State Development and Infrastructure, which supported the initial feasibility study for the project.
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