Multi million funding committed for world’s largest e-fuel project in Hessen

A project at Industriepark Höchst (IPH) is planned to show for the first time how the fluctuating availability of green electricity impacts the production of carbon-neutral power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels. To this end, the Centre of Competence for Climate, Environment and Noise Protection in Aviation (CENA Hessen) is conducting a project called Real-Time Power Supply for E-Fuels (RePoSe), which is connected to a scheme being operated by Ineratec GmbH at Industriepark Höchst.

CENA Hessen, working together with its project partners, has been able to obtain a multi million government funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV) and the Hessian state government for the RePoSe project.

‘We need sustainable synthetic fuels to enable the achievement of climate targets in all sectors. Each tonne of carbon-neutral fuel that is produced sustainably is valuable in multiple ways,’ said Dr Rainer Waldschmidt, Managing Director of Hessen Trade and Invest, ‘Not only will carbon emissions be reduced, but there will also be less pollutants in the air from combustion. As the state’s business development agency, we wish to use this project as our way of helping Germany’s number one airport to stay sustainably competitive in the long term.’

‘We have set a target of producing at least 200,000 tonnes of sustainable jet fuel for German aviation by 2030,’ said Oliver Luksic, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Digital and Transport, during the handover, ‘We expect that the RePoSe project will give us a boost for the urgently required uptake of electricity-based fuels in the market and new findings about the technical conditions that are needed for it.’

‘In many respects, Hessen is not only a pioneer in noise protection but also sets standards nationwide for environmental and climate protection in aviation. Minister Tarek Al-Wazir saw the potential of electricity-based fuels early on. I am all the more delighted that our work is now being rewarded with federal funding,’ said Undersecretary Bernhard Maßberg, Head of Mobility, Aviation and Railways in Hessen’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Transport, ‘This gives us further drive to make a valuable contribution to the decarbonisation of aviation and strengthen Hessen as a location for aviation in our work outside of RePoSe. We in Hessen will continue to be consistent in advancing our commitment to more climate and noise protection in aviation in the next few years, too.’