Bringing together international expertise on jet biofuel and electric aircraft

Air Traffic Services across the border of Finland and NorwayAir Traffic Services across the border of Finland and Norway.Photo: Avinor

On Thursday Avinor, the Federation of Norwegian Aviation Industries and Zero are organizing the conference “Emission-free aviation in 2040?”

 

“Aviation is of key importance for Norway and the industry must take its share of responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable jet biofuel will play an important role and we are facing the electrification of aviation. We want to bring together the communities working on these issues, with an aim of sharing expertise and insights for the road forward,” says CEO of Avinor, Dag Falk-Petersen.

Must develop the market for jet biofuel
Studies show that 30 per cent of all aviation fuel at Avinor’s airports can become sustainable by 2030. The fuel can be produced from forestry waste and pulpwood from Norwegian forests. At Avinor Oslo airport and Bergen Airport, Flesland, jet biofuel is available, but it is difficult to source enough.

In 2016 1.25 million litres of sustainable jet biofuel were uplifted in Norway. This corresponded to 0.1 per cent of all jet fuel sold in Norway that year. In August 2017 the scheme was also extended to include Flesland. However, there was very limited availability of jet biofuel on the market in 2017, resulting in the drop in of only 125,000 litres of jet biofuel during the year in total for the two airports.

“Currently very little sustainable jet biofuel is produced globally, and what little there is has a price that is not competitive. To achieve the target of a 30 per cent drop in and corresponding emission reductions, there will therefore be a need for public instruments,” says Torbjørn Lothe, Managing Director of the Federation of Norwegian Aviation Industries (NHO Luftfart).

Electric aircraft are on the way
There is considerable interest in and a good deal of activity surrounding the development of electric aircraft. A number of stakeholders, including Boeing, Airbus, Siemens, Rolls Royce, and NASA, are working with and can see the commercial potential of electric and hybrid-electric aircraft. In Norway, Avinor is playing an active role in these efforts. Together with the Norwegian Association of Air Sports (NLF), Avinor has established a long-term project for the introduction of electric aircraft in Norwegian aviation. The project is supported by the government, and the project partners are Widerøe, SAS, and the climate foundation ZERO.

“Just a short time ago electric aircraft were unimaginable. Now a number of major players are claiming that in only a few years they will be able to provide aircraft with electric solutions for domestic scheduled traffic in Norway. In order to bring up the volume of emission reductions from aviation, we also need to see a quick phasing in of sustainable jet biofuel. This will allow Norway to lead the way and show how we can realign aviation,” says Marius Holm, head of ZERO.

 

Source: Avinor / Norway Today