Saff the Mighty Hoop Jumper: What SkyNRG Teaches Us about Getting Steel in the Ground

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Once upon a time there was a daring and skillful hoop-jumper named Saff. No one could jump hoops like he. He could somersault through flaming hoops, sustainability hoops, carbon-intensity hoops. Children cheered him. Elders admired him. One day the King announced a grand hoop-jumping contest to be held in the Palace Gardens. The villagers were delighted.

Saff hurried home and designed the most magnificent hoops ever seen. They were cleaner, greener, safer, more transparent, more sustainable, and considerably more complicated than ordinary hoops. Then he rode into town to raise the money to build them.

The Banker studied the plans. “Remarkable hoops,” he said. “I shall gladly finance them once you prove that you can jump through them.”

The Farmer studied the plans. “I shall gladly provide materials for the hoops once the contest is definitely taking place.”

“Then,” said the Farmer, “we appear to have discovered a sequencing challenge.”

The Airliner studied the plans. “I should be delighted to purchase tickets for the contest once you can guarantee that the performance will cost no more than last year’s contest.”

It sounds like a fairy tale. Yet anyone who has spent time around the drive to produce sustainable aviation fuels will recognize it as documentary realism.

This week, SkyNRG and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines officially celebrated the start of construction of DSL-01, a 100,000-tonne-per-year Sustainable Aviation Fuel facility in Delfzijl. Using the HEFA pathway, the plant will convert waste fats, greases, and used cooking oils into SAF and renewable co-products. The headlines focused on the groundbreaking. The deeper story is how long it took to get there.

To some observers, DSL-01 may have felt like a slow train coming. By bioeconomy standards, it was practically an express service. SkyNRG’s quest stretches back to its founding in 2009. Along the way came market development, feedstock sourcing, certification, engineering, environmental reviews, technology selection, investors, lenders, policy support, and enough due diligence to fill a respectable library.

In 2019, SkyNRG was already discussing major SAF projects in Washington State. In the years that followed came partnerships with Microsoft, Alaska Airlines, Boeing, LOT Polish Airlines, VistaJet, and dozens of others. APG invested. Macquarie Asset Management invested. Project Wigeon advanced in the United States. eSAF initiatives emerged in Sweden. Research partnerships appeared in Ireland.

Meanwhile, SkyNRG kept jumping hoops. There was the Sustainability Hoop, culminating in industry-leading RSB certifications. There was the Traceability Hoop, addressed through Book & Claim systems and Project Runway. There was feedstock, engineering, technology, financing. Hoops, hoops, hoops everywhere. Each served a purpose. Each added complexity.

This is where the DSL-01 story becomes larger than SkyNRG.For years we have described commercialization as a technology challenge, a financing challenge, a feedstock challenge, or a policy challenge. Increasingly, it appears to be a sequencing challenge.

The technology provider would like financing before committing resources. The financier would like customers before committing capital. The customer would like fuel before committing volume.The feedstock supplier would like proof of operations before committing supply. The regulator would like studies before issuing approvals. The studies would like engineering data. The engineering team would like financing. The financing would like permits. Everyone is acting rationally.

Collectively, they resemble an M.C. Escher staircase.Each participant is climbing energetically. Progress is visible everywhere. Yet somehow everyone keeps returning to the same landing. Projects rarely die from opposition. More often they drown in conditional support.

The remarkable achievement of DSL-01 is that enough participants eventually replaced conditional support with actual commitment. KLM, a founding member of SkyNRG, did more than cheer from the sidelines. Its long-term offtake commitment helped anchor the economics of the project. The airline became, in effect, the first ticket buyer for Saff’s contest.

Eventually enough participants decided that waiting for certainty was less attractive than creating it.