Patagonia $2.5 billion eSAF project starts engagement process with investors

Germany-based firms GreenSinergy and REA Consult have begun a formal engagement process with institutional investors and prospective offtakers for a large-scale power-to-liquid (PtL) sustainable aviation fuel production project in the Patagonia region of Argentina. Officially launched with provincial government support in December 2024, the Eco-Refinerías del Sur (ERS) facility is expected to have an initial capacity of 100,000 tonnes of SAF per year, with commissioning targeted for the early 2030s, and eventually scalable to 500,000 tonnes annually. At full build-out, total capital investment is expected to reach around $2.5 billion. GreenSinnergy is acting as the lead developer, overseeing technical design, permitting and execution, while REA Consult leads the financial and transaction structuring, coordinating investor engagement and aligning the capital framework with international investment standards.

The three-stage ERS project is expected to become an engine of economic development for the Chubut province in southern Argentina and take advantage of global demand for SAF. It will use green hydrogen derived from wind energy and desalinated seawater in the PtL process and a site has been secured for the full deployment of the facility.

In June 2025, GreenSinnergy and clean fuels technology company Axens signed a MoU to explore the development of SAF projects across Latin America, with an initial focus on the ERS project. Axens will serve as the licensor-of-record for key technologies including CO2 capture, hydrogen purification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and upgrading of the final kerosene and naphtha by-product.

ERS is being prepared in alignment with Argentina’s Régimen de Incentivo a las Grandes Inversiones (RIGI), a framework intended to support capital-intensive infrastructure projects through long-term regulatory and fiscal stability.

“This project brings together renewable power, hydrogen and fuel production into a single industrial system,” said Carlos Villalba, Managing Partner of GreenSinnergy, a consulting and project development company focused on accelerating the global energy transition through low-carbon and decarbonisation initiatives. “Structuring it correctly from the outset is essential for scale, bankability and long-term execution.”

REA Consult specialises in financial structuring and transaction advisory for sustainable energy and infrastructure projects in Europe and Latin America, and has advised on energy transition transactions exceeding €5 billion.

“Integrated SAF projects require coordination across energy generation, conversion and offtake infrastructure,” said Rachel Andalaft, Director of REA Consult. “Our role is to structure this complexity into a coherent financing framework that strategic capital can support.”

Photo (Aeropuertos Argentina): Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini International Airport

Christopher Surgenor
Editor