Spain’s Moeve is preparing to enter the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market through a new partnership with Zaffra, a Sasol-Topsoe joint venture, as part of its push to develop a 2GW green hydrogen hub in Andalusia.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the deployment of e-SAF production facilities at Moeve’s planned hydrogen hubs in Huelva and Cádiz. The planned facilities, each with a 1GW electrolyser capacity, are part of Moeve’s broader strategy to decarbonize industrial sectors and position Spain as a major player in Europe’s clean fuels market.
E-SAF, or electrofuels for aviation, are produced by combining green hydrogen—generated via renewable-powered electrolysis—with captured CO₂. The resulting fuel is functionally equivalent to conventional jet fuel, but with significantly reduced lifecycle emissions. However, these benefits come at a steep price.
While Moeve and Zaffra are framing their collaboration as a step toward delivering Spain’s first e-SAF production capacity, they have not disclosed investment figures, plant scale, or timelines for development. What is clear is the strategic relevance of the effort: the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation initiative mandates that at least 1.2% of aviation fuel supplied at EU airports must be synthetic by 2030. Meeting that target will require a sharp increase in production capacity across the bloc.
Despite the momentum, commercial-scale e-SAF remains constrained by cost. Producing synthetic fuels via electrolysis and CO₂ capture is energy-intensive and capital-heavy, with current estimates placing e-SAF at two to five times the cost of kerosene-based jet fuel. Unless large-scale subsidies or carbon pricing mechanisms are implemented, widespread adoption remains unlikely in the near term.
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