LIBERAL, KAN.—Growth Energy Members Conestoga Energy and SAFFiRE Renewables broke ground yesterday on a new facility that will eventually produce cellulosic bioethanol from corn stover—then convert that bioethanol into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor attended the event, along with Kansas Senators Jerry Moran (R) and Roger Marshall (R), Kansas Rep. Tracey Mann (R), Federal Aviation Administrator (FAA) Deputy Regional Administrator Debra Sanning, and U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office Director Valerie Sarisky-Reed.
In his opening remarks before the groundbreaking, Conestoga CEO (and current Growth Energy Chairman) Tom Willis called on attendees to “remember today.”
“This is a day where western Kansas goes from producing natural gas energy, to the start of producing sustainable aviation fuel with our partner SAFFiRE,” he said. “This is transformational for western Kansas. This is transformational for the airline industry. This is transformational for agriculture and the value that it brings. It started here.”
Skor echoed Willis in her remarks, saying that the Conestoga and SAFFiRE plant “has the potential to be a big step for Kansas—and a huge leap for the entire biofuels industry.” She also called on policymakers to help support the project through the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit, for which guidance from the U.S. Treasury is still pending.
“SAF is a multi-billion-dollar opportunity,” she added. “Getting to that future will take all of us. It will take innovators like Conestoga and SAFFiRE. It will take policymakers like our champions here today, creating the right conditions and sending the right market signals. That means a 45Z clean fuel production credit that allows rural America to prosper at the speed of innovation, not the snail’s pace of bureaucracy.”
Growth Energy congratulates both of our members—Conestoga and SAFFiRE—for this exciting and potentially game-changing development for the future of cellulosic biofuel and SAF. You can read more about the plant on Southwest Airlines’ website (SAFFiRE Renewables is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest).
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