Breakthrough Energy Catalyst announced its first project equity investment today in the form of a $75 million equity commitment to Infinium’s Project Roadrunner, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions. Project Roadrunner will convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) and renewable power into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other low-carbon fuels. This first-of-a-kind commercial-scale Power-to-Liquids (PtL) eFuels facility is expected to be the largest PtL eFuels project in North America once operational.
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst funds and invests in first-of-a-kind projects that support the deployment of emerging climate technologies and sustainable aviation fuel is one of Catalyst’s five areas of priority investment. The aviation industry accounts for approximately 2–3% of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) annually and faces unique challenges when it comes to reducing emissions. Sustainable aviation fuels offer a critical tool to decarbonize aviation with existing aircraft currently in use around the world. Project Roadrunner will primarily produce Infinium eSAF, a sustainable aviation fuel with the potential to significantly reduce the lifecycle GHG emissions associated with air travel by around 90 percent.
At the core of Catalyst’s work is also uniting companies with stakeholders including investors, offtakers, and governments to enable the funding and build out of first-of-a-kind, commercial-scale projects. With Project Roadrunner, Catalyst and Infinium are bringing together key Catalyst partners in American Airlines and Citi as offtakers to tackle aviation emissions together.
The Catalyst and Infinium announcement includes two groundbreaking agreements with those partners that provide models for effective climate action. First, American and Infinium have agreed to a long-term, firm fuel offtake agreement that will enable further investment in Project Roadrunner. The Catalyst team worked to develop this agreement alongside the American and Infinium teams. Second, American and Citi have separately agreed to transfer the associated emission reductions to Citi to support the scaling of this innovative technology and help reduce a portion of Citi’s Scope 3 emissions from employee travel. These agreements provide one model for how airlines can use offtake agreements to help promising new SAF technologies attract investment dollars.
Mario Fernandez, Head of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, said, “This project is a landmark achievement for the development of sustainable aviation fuels and the offtake agreement provides a model for the entire aviation industry on how to effect change and support the scale-up of capital-intensive projects.”
