Essar Energy Transition receives £2.5m to develop a major SAF hub at Stanlow, advancing UK aviation’s decarbonisation targets.
Essar Energy Transition (EET), a key player in the UK's decarbonisation landscape, has secured £2.5 million in funding from the UK Government’s Department for Transport (DfT) under its Advanced Fuels Fund (AFF). This financial backing is designated to advance EET's vision of creating one of the UK’s largest advanced Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production hubs at Stanlow, Cheshire. The facility is a core element of EET’s strategy to transform Stanlow into the world’s first low-carbon process refinery.
The project will centre around the development of a Methanol-to-Jet (MtJ) SAF production hub, which is expected to produce up to 200,000 tonnes of advanced SAF annually. The plant will rely on approximately 550,000 tonnes of renewable e-methanol and bio-methanol each year, sourced both from within the UK and internationally. A portion of this methanol will be supplied by Essar Future Energies, a sister company currently developing a renewable methanol project in Gujarat, India.
With a feasibility study successfully completed earlier in 2025, the new grant will allow the project to progress to the Pre-Front-End Engineering Design (pre-FEED) stage. This phase is scheduled for completion by March 2026, followed by the start of the full Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) in Q2 2026. Essar anticipates reaching a Final Investment Decision (FID) by the end of 2027.
Stanlow’s strategic location offers several advantages, including the presence of existing import infrastructure at Stanlow Terminals. This enables access to competitively priced, low-carbon-intensity methanol feedstocks. The site also benefits from existing refining capabilities, along with upcoming low-carbon power, hydrogen production, and carbon capture infrastructure, allowing for a fully integrated low-emission SAF facility.
The SAF produced at this hub will be distributed through Essar’s extensive jet fuel logistics network, which includes the Manchester Jet Line, Midlands and UKOP pipelines, as well as road and marine routes. This system currently supplies fuel to 10 UK airports, including Manchester International, positioning the facility as a key direct supplier to the UK aviation industry. SAF will be blended on-site with existing jet fuel supplies to ensure seamless integration into the current distribution network.
Moreover, the Stanlow hub is designed with scalability in mind. As SAF demand increases in the coming decades, the site offers potential for significant expansion. Integration with other Essar Energy Transition businesses—EET Fuels, EET Hydrogen, and EET Hydrogen Power—will further support Stanlow’s evolution into a leading energy transition complex.
EET Managing Director Tony Fountain expressed strong support for the government’s role in enabling this transition, stating that domestic SAF production is crucial for aviation decarbonisation and national Jet Zero goals. The MtJ hub will be instrumental in closing the gap in global SAF supply, which remains a small fraction of total jet fuel use.
The initiative aligns with the UK’s SAF Mandate, which came into effect in January 2025. The mandate sets phased targets, requiring 22% of aviation fuel to come from SAF by 2040—up from just 2% today. This MtJ project will help EET meet its own SAF obligations under the mandate by 2035. The £2.5m grant is part of a broader £63 million AFF allocation for SAF projects between July 2025 and March 2026, with further government incentives and policy support expected to follow.
