2029
First year of operation
// Project
IðunnH2 is developing a first-of-a-kind electro-kerosene facility in Iceland, five kilometres from Keflavík International Airport. 300 MW installed capacity, 70,000 tonnes of synthetic jet fuel a year, first commercial fuel in 2029.
// Facility
The state-of-the-art facility will use sustainably sourced, local inputs to create synthetic jet fuel for use at Keflavík Airport. Electrolysis, methanol synthesis, fuel conversion, and blending all take place at the same facility, with no intermediate transport and no external refinery. The inputs are Icelandic: renewable electricity, captured CO₂, and water. The production process is a series of individually proven technologies that have never been integrated at this scale, developed in collaboration with Nel, Haffner Energy, and our neighbours Carbon Recycling International1, with inputs from Honeywell UOP.
// Iceland eSAF Project · production process
Methanol-to-Jet pathway
// Inputs
// eSAF production · Green Industrial Park
// Primary output
70,000t / yr
eSAF
// Additional value streams
// Site
The facility will be located in Kadeco’s Green Industrial Park in Suðurnesjabær2, five kilometres from Keflavík International Airport. The park has industrial-grade port access, established heavy-industry infrastructure, and an existing connection to Iceland’s national grid3. The fuel produced here will be blended onsite and delivered into the KEF hydrant system without relying on vulnerable long-distance supply routes.
// Product
// Impact
The Iceland eSAF Project will have meaningful impact on several groups.
// Offtake
ReFuelEU Aviation mandates rising SAF blending at EU airports, from 2% in 2025 to 70% by 20504, with a dedicated sub-mandate for synthetic fuels like eSAF. EEA incorporation is pending. Two airlines committed to eSAF from the Green Industrial Park well before they had to.
In 2022, three years before the first ReFuelEU blending obligation took effect, Icelandair signed a memorandum of understanding with IðunnH2 for up to 45,000 tonnes of eSAF per year from 2028 onwards5. It was an early commitment in a market almost no one was yet supplying at commercial scale, and the kind of forward offtake an eSAF project needs to reach investment decision and secure construction financing.
Founded in 1937, Icelandair is hubbed at Keflavík and was named one of the ten most punctual airlines in Europe in 2023, with a target of cutting carbon emissions 50% per tonne-kilometre by 2030.
“Entering into this memorandum of understanding demonstrates we want to support pioneers working on the development of sustainable aviation fuels in Iceland.”
Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair
In July 2025, Luxaviation signed a memorandum of understanding with IðunnH2 for up to 10,000 tonnes of RFNBO-compliant eSAF per year, beginning in 20296. The commitment runs for fifteen years, a long horizon for an offtake agreement at this stage, and the kind of contracted revenue an eSAF project needs at financial close. Luxaviation is one of the world’s largest private aviation operators, headquartered in Luxembourg. In 2024 the group launched what it describes as private aviation’s first real-time carbon calculator inside its client app, grew SAF uplift 59% year on year, and through its ExecuJet subsidiary reached 64% of the way to full ground-handling electrification by 2030, with Paris Le Bourget already fully electric. Our eSAF gives Luxaviation a fuel whose emissions are traceable from production to delivery.
“Today’s agreement with IdunnH2 not only accelerates our SAF ambitions, it also pays tribute to the longstanding aviation bond between our two countries.”
Patrick Hansen, CEO of Luxaviation Group
If your airline or fleet operation needs to secure eSAF supply, we can discuss offtake structures tailored to your requirements.
// Development path
Securing renewable power, captured CO₂, technology partners, and binding offtake, and then sequencing them into one bankable project, is an undertaking measured in years. Every input and every stage of the production process come with project-specific design considerations that must be solved with specialised partners. The timeline below sets out how ours unfolds.
FEED stage
FEED. Front-end engineering and design, currently being funded. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) is carried out within this stage.
2026
Permitting, EPC selection, offtake negotiation, certification work begun.
2027
FID. Final investment decision. Construction starts.
2028
Construction. Civils, fabrication, electrolyser and MtJ module install.
2029
Commissioning. Staged ramp-up. First commercial fuel delivered into the KEF hydrant system.
2030+
Full operations. Capacity ramp to 70,000 t/yr eSAF.
// Road ahead
Aviation will not decarbonise while waiting decades for a new kind of aircraft. The planes flying today, and the planes that will be flying in 2045, run on liquid hydrocarbon fuel. If that fuel continues to come from crude oil, aviation’s contribution to climate change will keep growing. The only way to change the trajectory is to change what goes into the tank.
That is an industrial problem, not a theoretical one. It requires real facilities, built in real places, by people willing to commit capital and years of work to something that has never been done at this scale. The Iceland eSAF Project is one of those facilities. It will not solve the problem alone, but it is part of the generation of projects that proves it can be solved, and in doing so, makes the next generation faster, less expensive, and less risky to build.
The road from first-of-a-kind to established industry is long. It will never be laid unless someone starts.