Government fuels UK SAF industry with further investment in Alfanar’s Lighthouse Green Fuels Project
- Alfanar secures £8 million in funding from the UK Government’s Advanced Fuel Fund (AFF) for its Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) project in Teesside.
- The grant will support final engineering and pre-construction work as the SAF project advances towards construction.
- Alfanar is the only developer to win funding in all three rounds of the AFF, reflecting sustained Government confidence in the project.
- Alfanar’s £2bn investment will deliver the world’s largest and most advanced second-generation fully integrated SAF facility, helping to decarbonise UK aviation and support green growth in Teesside.
Global project developer and engineering construction company Alfanar has secured £8 million in the third round of the UK Government’s Advanced Fuel Fund (AFF), marking another key milestone as the company’s Lighthouse Green Fuels (LGF) sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project moves towards construction. The AFF competition provides grant funding to commercial and demonstration-scale projects in the UK at development stages up to construction.
The funding will support the completion of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and front-end engineering and design (FEED) of LGF – a crucial step to realising Alfanar’s £2bn investment into the world’s largest and most advanced second-generation SAF facility.
Set for completion in 2029, the facility will be essential to decarbonising UK aviation, producing 180 million litres of SAF per year – enough to power 27,000 short haul flights. It could utilise Teesside’s planned carbon capture infrastructure enabling it to produce negative emissions fuels, with potential lifecycle greenhouse gas savings of 200% compared to conventional jet fuel.
This latest grant brings Alfanar’s total funding under the AFF scheme to over £27 million and reinforces the Government’s ongoing support for the project. Alfanar remains the only developer to have been successful in all three AFF rounds, in addition to previous success under the Green Fuels, Green Skies competition in 2022.
The announcement comes at a pivotal time for the UK SAF industry, as the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill continues to progress through Parliament. The legislation, alongside the UK SAF mandate, is seen as critical to unlocking private investment and establishing the UK as a global SAF leader.
Alfanar UK Country Head, Noaman Al Adhami, said:
“We are delighted to receive further funding from the UK Government via the AFF to help us realise our world leading SAF investment in Teesside. Coupled with the SAF Mandate and incoming Revenue Certainty Mechanism, the UK is well placed to be a global leader in SAF development.
"With continued support, our LGF project will cut aviation emissions — one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise — while helping to establish a new green industry and create new jobs in Teesside and attracting major inward investment to the UK.”
Discover how Lighthouse Green Fuels is shaping the future of green aviation. View our insights page to learn more about the project.
