Gevo buys land for commercial SAF production facility in South Dakota

US biofuels company Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) announced on Monday it has purchased land in South Dakota where it will build its first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production plant.

The 245-acre (99.1-ha) property is located near the city of Lake Preston in Kingsbury County and will become home to the Net-Zero 1 facility, where Gevo intends to produce 55 million gallons of SAF annually. The plant will use electricity coming from an associated wind farm project, currently under development.

Gevo expects to start building the SAF plant in September, with a formal groundbreaking ceremony to be held next month. Deliveries of the initial SAF volumes are scheduled to be launched in 2025 to fulfill part of the commitments under existing supply contracts.

The biofuels firm originally optioned to buy the specific site in December 2020.

Gevo’s SAF is made from inedible corn products that are processed into ethanol and then into SAF. The company has an objective of producing and commercialising one billion gallons of SAF by 2030. It has SAF supply deals in place with major airlines such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc and Ireland’s Aer Lingus.

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