British Airways has claimed confidence in the UK to invest in aviation fuel projects has been hampered by a lack of government support after the company was forced to shelve plans for a biofuel initiative.
The Green Sky project would have converted household waste into jet biofuel for BA’s fleet, however the project was abandoned after Solena Fuels, the US partner company on the scheme, went bankrupt.
While BA is currently seeking support from other companies to get a similar project off the ground, it has claimed that a lack of support from the UK government is hampering progress in the development of aviation biofuels.
Cathy West of BA told Clean Energy News: “Aviation fuels are not eligible for incentives that road transport fuels receive, making it difficult to build a business case to invest in UK aviation fuels projects. This affects investor confidence and the UK is currently losing out to countries that have prioritised and incentivised developments in the sustainable aviation fuels market.”
Currently the Department for Transport supports the use of biofuels through the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO), which requires fuel suppliers to show that a percentage of the fuel they supply comes from renewable and sustainable sources. However, aviation fuel is not included in this policy, which BA believes could boost the level of green jet fuel production.
West added: “We’re keen to work with the UK government to develop appropriate incentives to make it easier for such projects to succeed. The government needs to support innovative aviation biofuels projects if they are to progress.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: “Ultimately this is primarily a commercial decision that BA has taken but in terms of what the government is doing, there’s a lot of work that’s been done on biofuels. The funding that we give for biofuels projects can be used in a wide number of areas, including aircraft. It’s not the case that investing in the technology means it can only be used for one type of transport. Aviation could benefit from that investment just like any other type of transport.”
In September 2015, the department awarded £25 million to three projects to help develop new ways of producing high value fuel that could power modes of transport including aircraft. However, aviation biofuels require different properties than those used on the ground, meaning not all of the advances made by government-funded projects could be applicable to aviation.
