Businesses and residents are to be given the chance to give their opinions on plans for a £1.5bn aviation fuel facility on Teesside.

The Lighthouse Green Fuels’ application for an advanced sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) facility will be the largest green-fuel facility in Europe, and the most progressed in its development.

Local stakeholders, community groups and industry have been contacted to introduce the project before any formative plans have taken shape and LGF will continue consulting communities and businesses on its plans through a number of in-person and online consultation events planned for early next year.

At its Billingham site in Stockton, LGF - owned by global manufacturing and infrastructure group Alfanar - will create more than 1,000 jobs during construction and employ a further 240 full-time staff when the plant is operational. Apprenticeship schemes will also be established to support staffing requirements for the next 25 years of operations, helping to upskill the local workforce.

LGF will convert non-recyclable waste and waste biomass into advanced sustainable aviation fuel. This SAF will then be blended with conventional jet fuel and distributed to UK airports to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation industry.

Read More:

As the largest and most advanced green-fuel facility in Europe, LGF will convert over 1 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste and waste biomass annually to over 165 million litres of SAF for use on domestic and international flights. The process will also produce 30 million litres of green naphtha, a green feedstock for use in petrochemical processes.

Noaman Al Adhami, UK Country Head of Alfanar said: “We are delighted. The project will deliver a Europe-leading facility that will save millions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere, create over a thousand jobs, and boost local supply chains.”