June 22 (Renewables Now) - Danish renewables developer European Energy A/S will be building a test facility for converting e-methanol to sustainable aviation fuel, or eSAF, in pursuit of the prime minister’s goal of making domestic flights in Denmark run solely on green fuels.

European Energy said it has won EUR 1.3 million (USD 1.37m) in research funding from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) for this project. The company expects to construct the test facility by 2024.

According to Soren Knudsen Kaer, Head of Technology in the PtX department of European Energy, Denmark’s annual aviation fuel consumption for domestic flights, estimated at about 25,000 tonnes, can be provided by just a single plant that is hooked to a nearshore wind farm of 150 MW-200 MW and a solar park of between 200 MW and 300 MW.

The SAF-related research project is a collaboration between European Energy, Vertimass, Kosan Gas, Aalborg University, Port of Aalborg, Aalborg Airport and Hydrogen Valley.

In the previous round of applications to the EUDP programme, European Energy has also secured EUR 1.1 million in funding to conduct research into the digitalisation of solar panel operations. The project, which will run from 2022-2023, involves replacing current solutions with new solar panels and inverters with greater voltage. It is a collaboration with DTU Electro, Emazys and Fraunhofer CSP.

“With this funding to find new digitalized operation and management tools for high-current and high-voltage solar panels, we will be able to further bring down the costs of green energy,” said Jan Vedde, Senior Project Manager in the Innovation department in European Energy.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.055)

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!