Simply Blue Group adds SAF, onshore renewables to portfolio

Ireland-based offshore wind developer Simply Blue Group is moving inland to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production facilities and onshore renewables to power them.

Announcing on Wednesday its entry into the SAF industry, Simply Blue Group said that it has three fuels projects in engineering design phase in Canada, Ireland and Australia. The one in Canada is expected to reach construction stage in 2026.

The facilities will have the capacity to process more than 1.5 million tonnes of locally sourced sustainable biomass annually and churn out over 300,000 tonnes of SAF per year, according to Simply Blue Group. The company's focus will be on renewable liquid fuels for aviation, marine vessels and chemical feedstocks.

The SAF factories will be powered by arrays of wind turbines and solar panels. Simply Blue Group says it is currently developing 500 MW of solar and over 2 GW of onshore wind projects dedicated to powering the SAF facilities.

For Hugh Kelly, co-founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group, joining the onshore renewable energy sector was a “logical” step.

“Simply Blue Group established itself in 2011 as a blue economy project developer and our mission was to work with the oceans to help address the climate and food crisis. Our focus at the time was on the marine environment but we realised that the oceans and the land must sometimes work together to achieve a common goal. Therefore, it was logical for us to move onshore to develop renewable energy parks," Kelly said.

Simply Blue Group’s offshore wind pipeline currently consists of around 4 GW of bottom-fixed and some 10 GW of floating wind projects.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!