The U.S. is on track to meet the SAF Grand Challenge goals set in 2021.
Content Body
Three years after the Biden Administration issued its SAF Grand Challenge to the U.S. fuel industry to reach a goal of three billion gallons of neat sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production a year by 2030, the industry is stepping up.
“When we initially set it, there was a lot of discussions about whether that was too ambitious," Alejandro Moreno, an official with the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency, said this morning at the North American SAF Conference and Expo in St. Paul, Minnesota. “We are now on track at the low end to meet it and even exceed it.”
In 2021, the U.S. produced five million gallons of SAF, and in the first six months of 2024 alone, that number has jumped to 52 million gallons as production facilities continue to come online.
In the panel session—a rare occasion that featured senior officials from the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Transportation—words such as “enthusiastic, optimistic, and proud” were used by the officials to describe their feelings on the progress.
"SAF is the only thing available today that can fit with today’s aircraft and today’s airports with today’s infrastructure,” said Annie Petsonk, the assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs with the DOT. “That is super important because today’s aircraft are still going to be flying tomorrow, 10 years from now, and potentially 20, 30, or 40 years from now, so there will be a durable market for SAF going forward.”
U.S. Up To Meet Sustainable Aviation Fuel Challenge
Newsletter Body
Three years after the Biden Administration issued its SAF Grand Challenge to the U.S. fuel industry to reach a goal of three billion gallons of neat sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production a year by 2030, the industry is stepping up.
“When we initially set it, there was a lot of discussions about whether that was too ambitious," Alejandro Moreno, an official with the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency, said this morning at the North American SAF Conference and Expo in St. Paul, Minnesota. “We are now on track at the low end to meet it and even exceed it.”
In 2021, the U.S. produced five million gallons of SAF, and in the first six months of 2024 alone, that number has jumped to 52 million gallons as production facilities continue to come online.
In the panel session—a rare occasion that featured senior officials from the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Transportation—words such as “enthusiastic, optimistic, and proud” were used by the officials to describe their feelings on the progress.
"SAF is the only thing available today that can fit with today’s aircraft and today’s airports with today’s infrastructure,” said Annie Petsonk, the assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs with the DOT.