A SAUDI company making a £1billion investment on Teesside has been awarded more than £11million from the Government to push ahead with its plan to produce sustainable aviation fuel.

The alfanar group's Lighthouse Green Fuels Project, which will be based at the former Air Products site at Port Clarence, will be the first company in the UK to produce sustainable aviation fuel from waste on a large scale.

The project is expected to create more than 700 jobs during construction starting next year and around 240 full-time jobs once it is fully operational.

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The new money is from the Department for Transport's £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund. Five projects have been chosen today to receive a slice of that fund, with Transport Secretary Mark Harper saying “Using waste or by-products to refuel airliners sounds like a flight of fancy, but thanks to £165 million of Government funding it’s going to help us make guilt-free flying a reality.

“It’s exactly this kind of innovation that will help us create thousands of green jobs across the country and slash our carbon emissions.”

Mishal Almutlaq, Chief Investment Officer, alfanar Global Development, said: “alfanar is proud to be part of the UK’s journey to cement itself as a leader in clean aviation, creating quality jobs in its industrial areas as well as developing know-how in this sustainable and innovative industry.

"Our Lighthouse Green Fuels Waste to SAF project in Teesside is in advanced stages of development with FEED progressing well since July 2022. The Advanced Fuels Fund will positively contribute to the development costs helping enable the project to reach Final Investment Decision and enter construction in 2024.

The Northern Echo: Alfanar is a global brandAlfanar is a global brand (Image: Press release)

"We appreciate the Department for Transport’s continued support and would like to thank them for awarding our project grant funding."

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: "Teesside is truly the beating heart of the UK’s efforts to reach Net Zero, and Alfanar’s game-changing £1bn vision is another project leading the charge.

“Sustainable Aviation Fuel is at the centre of our Net Zero ambitions for both our region and our airport. This funding will help power Alfanar’s vision into reality - and also boosts our plan to become a global leader in this industry. This truly is a groundbreaking project which will bring good, well paid, green jobs for the people of Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.“

Today’s announcement comes less than a week after the Government announced that Virgin Atlantic has won the race to make the first net zero transatlantic flight next year – powered by SAF. Made from waste materials or by-products such as household waste, industrial gases or used cooking oil, the fuel can achieve greenhouse gas emissions savings of more than 70% compared to conventional fossil jet fuel.

At the end of last year, BUSINESSiQ reported alfanar had been awarded £2,417,500 to take forward its Lighthouse project as a winner of the Government’s Green Fuels, Green Skies competition to develop SAF.

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The group has built up an international presence throughout much of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Europe and is mainly involved in manufacturing electrical construction products, solutions for conventional and renewable power plants, engineering services and design engineering.

It is one of the world's largest electrical product manufacturers and distributors with a network covering 300 locations and includes a huge number of locally and internationally managed manufacturers and distributors.

The alfanar project is one of two on Teesside, with Nova Pangaea Technologies, based at Redcar’s Wilton International also leading on the development of clean, sustainable aviation fuel.