Montana Renewables and World Energy join to scale up North American SAF deliveries

Two of the biggest names in US sustainable aviation fuels, World Energy and Montana Renewables (MRL), have joined forces to accelerate SAF production and emission credit supplies to meet growing demand in the country. The agreement is expected to deliver more than 70 million gallons of SAF to the market over three years. MRL is one of the largest SAF producers in North America and having benefited from a large loan from the US Department of Energy last year, is set to significantly increase SAF production capacity through its MaxSAF 150 expansion plans. World Energy was the world’s first commercial scale SAF producer but has now pivoted to pioneering the carbon insets market, which enables corporate clients to acquire the environmental attributes derived from SAF to decarbonise their operations.

“Contracting with MRL for SAF production enables us to better support our growing aviation decarbonisation business,” said Gene Gebolys, CEO of World Energy, announcing the agreement. “We are serving many of the most recognised and respected brands in the world in sectors including tech, pharma, aviation, finance, business services and others to meet their decarbonisation commitments.

“Even as aviation demand is projected to double by 2050, our corporate clients are seeking ever better solutions to do more with less in terms of both environmental impact and cost.

“This collaboration with MRL is a big step forward for both of our businesses but, more importantly, working together will allow us to serve corporate leaders better than either of us could do on our own.”

Last November, World Energy released a guide to help companies understand how they can use insetting, delivered using a book-and-claim system, to meet decarbonisation goals. Insets – unlike offsets – are emission reductions that occur within the same sector the emissions are produced, explained World Energy, so enabling businesses to purchase insets that mirror their operations and decarbonise within their own value chain. The company says they are the most efficient and effective way to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like aviation, shipping and steel.

“Insetting is most mature in aviation, but we firmly believe it will eventually be used to decarbonise everything from concrete to cars to coffee cups. It’s practical, it’s traceable and it actually works,” said Scott Lewis, President of World Energy Net Zero Services.

World Energy’s facility in Paramount, California, was the first in the world to produce SAF on a commercial scale and supplied airlines such as United at Los Angeles International Airport. However, its partner Air Products terminated an agreement to expand Paramount a year ago, citing “challenging commercial aspects surrounding the expansion project and commercial operations”. World Energy subsequently closed operations at the site.

A spokesperson for the company told GreenAir it was still working with Air Products on the Paramount exit and was not producing fuel while the situation was ongoing.

“We’re committed to the SAF industry and continue to be focused on solving problems that have stood in the way of bringing more SAF to more customers faster,” she said.

The Boston-based company said the long-term contract with Montana Renewables would help to validate the significant new capital investments MRL is making to scale the SAF industry.

Montana Renewables’ fuels facility in Great Falls, has been in operation since late 2022 and, as of last year, producing about 140 million gallons per year of biofuels, mostly renewable diesel. It utilises agricultural feedstocks from vegetable oils, fats and greases sourced from the Pacific Northwest region. The Department of Energy’s loan guarantee of $1.67 billion to MRL, announced in January 2025, will facilitate expansion to a projected 315 million gallons per year, most of which will be SAF.

It has high ambitions to be a leading global SAF producer and expects to produce about half of all North American SAF and 12% of all global SAF through to 2030.

“MRL’s MaxSAF expansion project is progressing rapidly and is on track to deliver economic benefits to the region’s farmers, ranchers and energy-related economy this spring,” said the company’s CEO, Bruce Fleming. “Market demand for SAF remains strong and this agreement is another signal of our commitment to American energy independence and Montana agriculture.”

Top photo: Montana Renewables’ Great Falls facility

Bottom photo: Bruce Fleming, CEO, Montana Renewables (left) and Gene Gebolys, CEO, World Energy (right)

Christopher Surgenor
Editor