BP’s Cherry Point Refinery was awarded nearly $27 million to produce sustainable aviation fuel, using renewable biomass feedstocks, in Whatcom County.
The company estimates that the project will create 96 new jobs and allow them to produce 10 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel annually, according to a news release from U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
The fuel, which reduces aviation lifecycle carbon emissions in modern jets by up to 80% when compared to conventional petroleum-based jet fuel, is slated for airports in the region via the Olympic Pipeline, which runs from Ferndale to Portland.
The grant, for building infrastructure and purchasing equipment, was part of more than $36 million in funding for innovative sustainable aviation projects in Washington provided under a program authored by Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
“These grants will kick-start SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) production to supply airports across the Pacific Northwest, build low-emission engines for cleaner regional air travel and develop technologies to reduce fuel burn and cut costs,” Cantwell said.
In 2023, BP’s Cherry Point facility was on a list of just five refineries around the world as future hubs for sustainable aviation fuel and green hydrogen facilities — part of a $1.5 billion investment the company proposed making at the Whatcom County refinery.
Everett hydrogen-electric engine manufacturer ZeroAvia also secured money through the grant funding under the Inflation Reduction Act. The company, which has a hydrogen-electric propulsion research and development facility, will receive more than $4 million toward making hydrogen-electric engines commercially available.
“The FAA is investing in hydrogen and electric propulsion as part of the future for aviation, and our technology is well-positioned to help advance this critical pathway,” ZeroAvia Founder and CEO Val Miftakhov said in a news release.
The company conducted a successful test flight of the largest aircraft ever powered by a hydrogen-electric engine in 2023. The 19-seat Dornier 228 twin-engine aircraft, retrofitted with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain on the left wing, took off from the research and development facility in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, in January that year.
ZeroAvia is working toward FAA approval of its system and growing its presence at Paine Field to support engine manufacturing, according to the news release from Cantwell, who wrote a letter in support of the grant.
Seattle-based APiJET and Boeing also received grants through the Fueling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition via Sustainable Aviation Fuel and Low-Emission Aviation Technology programs.
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
