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Brookfield to Invest up to $1.1 Billion in Synthetic Sustainable Aviation Fuel Startup Infinium

Brookfield to Invest up to $1.1 Billion in Synthetic Sustainable Aviation Fuel Startup Infinium

Brookfield Asset Management announced today the launch of a new strategic funding partnership with low carbon electrofuels (eFuels) provider Infinium, with Brookfield committing to invest up to $1.1 billion to accelerate the company’s eFuels platform and its production of synthetic sustainable aviation fuel (eSAF).

The investment will be made by Brookfield’s $15 billion decarbonization-focused Brookfield Global Transition Fund (BGTF I), and marks Brookfield’s first direct investment in sustainable aviation fuel.

Founded in 2020, California-based Infinium produces synthetic fuels, or eFuels, using renewable power and waste carbon dioxide, avoiding the use of fossil fuels, or other feedstocks that compete with food used by other low carbon fuel solutions.

According to Infinium, its ultra-low carbon fuels, including eSAF, eDiesel and eNaphtha, can be used as drop-in replacements for current fossil-based fuels without the need to make changes to engines or planes, ships, trucks and manufacturing processes.  The company added that its eSAF can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 90% or more compared to today’s conventional fuels.

Infinium currently has more than a dozen projects in development globally, including “Project Roadrunner” in West Texas, which involves converting an existing gas-to-liquid (GTL) facility into an eFuels project, using emissions from local processing operations that are currently streaming CO2 into the atmosphere to produce eSAF, in addition to smaller volumes of eDiesel for the trucking and maritime industries, and eNaphtha for the production of low carbon plastics. The company announced a $75 million equity investment last year from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst in Project Roadrunner. Infinium’s first eFuels facility, Project Pathfinder, began production in 2023, with eFuels contracted to help Amazon decarbonize heavy transport.

Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle said:

“Brookfield is a tremendous partner, and we are thrilled to secure this additional capital as we scale eSAF production to meet the overwhelming demand from the aviation industry. Our Project Pathfinder site was the first to bring commercial volumes of eFuels to market, and Project Roadrunner brings additional volumes of eFuels to scale global supplies. As our airline partners continue to push for more SAF and decarbonization options, Infinium remains committed to accelerating production to help meet those demands.”

Under the new partnership, Brookfield will invest more than $200 million in Infinium and Project Roadrunner, and up to an additional $850 million to support the deployment of additional eFuels projects globally.

Jehangir Vevaina, Managing Partner at Brookfield, said:

“Our investment is structured to provide the capital Infinium needs to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuels to meet the growing demand from corporate customers while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns for Brookfield. In addition to Roadrunner, Infinium has a large pipeline of well positioned projects to help meet the demand for the structurally short eFuels market, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to participate in the development of further eFuels projects through follow-on investments.”

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