JetBlue, Fidelis sign SAF-supply agreement starting in 2025

Photo: JetBlue

JetBlue and Fidelis New Energy LLC announced Dec. 2 a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to provide JetBlue at least 92 million gallons of blended sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from Fidelis’ Grön Fuels GigaSystem™ at the Port of Greater Baton Rouge in Louisiana.

This SAF is expected to be delivered over the five-year term with a targeted start date of 2025.

With this MOU, Fidelis’ negative carbon-intensity SAF is helping JetBlue advance toward its goal to reach 10 percent of its total fuel usage as SAF on a blended basis by 2030.

JetBlue is the only U.S. carrier to be flying regular domestic flights using both available SAF producers delivering today and continues to support the emerging SAF market with significant commitments as the airline continues to grow its SAF mix.

The SAF from the Grön Fuels GigaSystem is innovatively designed to achieve negative lifecycle carbon intensity by integrating carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and biomass energy with CCS (BECCS).

Designed to be the largest and highest-efficiency purpose-built renewable fuels facility in North America, the Grön Fuels GigaSystem will produce an estimated 1 billion gallons per year (65,000 barrels per day) of SAF, renewable diesel and other low-carbon products.

Grön Fuels further enhances its efficiency and carbon intensity by capturing waste process heat to generate power, producing biogas from byproducts and using its highly flexible processing capabilities to produce carbon-negative SAF from a wide array of existing and emerging low carbon-intensity feedstocks.

“JetBlue is proud of our work to champion a more sustainable aviation industry and fly regularly using SAF today,” said Sara Bogdan, director of sustainability and ESG for JetBlue. “But with SAF being less than 1 percent of our total fuel usage, we need significantly more supply to reach our 2040 net-zero target. With partners like Fidelis and their carbon-negative Grön Fuels GigaSystem, we are not only supplying our own growing SAF needs, we’re sending a powerful signal that significant demand for SAF exists. By introducing negative carbon-intensity SAF to our network, we are also taking steps towards reaching true carbon neutrality as an airline.”

Dan Shapiro, Fidelis co-founder and CEO, added, “Carbon-negative SAF accelerates the goals of aviation-industry participants genuinely committed to decarbonization like JetBlue in a pragmatic and timely manner. We are excited to partner the Grön Fuels GigaSystem with JetBlue for the provision of carbon-negative SAF to achieve its environmental goals.”

Bengt Jarlsjo, Fidelis co-founder and chief operating officer, said, “The aviation industry continues to increase its demand for SAF with JetBlue leading the way. The scale of the Grön Fuels GigaSystem will not only help serve this growing need but our commitment to innovative design enables us to do so in the most efficient manner.”

By vertically integrating three proven decarbonization components to produce carbon-negative SAF, the Fidelis-owned high-capacity carbon sink is expected to permanently sequester roughly 5 million tons of biogenic CO2 per year from the facility.