Offshore Wind Developer Simply Blue Group Ventures Into Onshore Clean Energy

Offshore Wind Developer Simply Blue Group Ventures Into Onshore Clean Energy

Offshore wind project developer Simply Blue Group is developing onshore renewable energy parks to power facilities capable of producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The projects, in Canada, Ireland and Australia will process more than 1.5 million tonnes of sustainable biomass annually to produce over 300,000 tonnes of SAF each year.

The company currently has a pipeline of fixed bottom (c. 4GW) and floating wind projects (c. 10GW) globally and has been recognised as a pioneer of floating offshore wind, according to a media statement by Simply Blue Group.

Simply Blue Group’s sustainable fuels will be produced in onshore Renewable Energy Parks (REPs) focusing on renewable liquid fuels for aviation, marine vessels and chemical feedstocks. These REPs will be able to produce a range of sustainable fuels but will focus on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and methanol, with future phases expected to include green ammonia, stated the company.

Simply Blue Group is also developing 500 MW of solar PV and over 2 GW of onshore wind farms that will generate renewable electricity to power the renewable energy parks, while sustainable biomass feedstocks and water will be sourced locally.

Michael Galvin, Director of Hydrogen and Sustainable Fuels of Simply Blue Group, said, “We recognised the sustainable fuels market opportunity a couple of years ago and were able to make the connection that others couldn’t, by integrating large-scale power generation with biomass conversion to produce sustainable fuel. We have been busy building an exceptional development team and assembling strategic sites of land and biomass feedstock.”

Hugh Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Blue Group, said, “Simply Blue Group established itself in 2011 as a blue economy project developer and our mission was to work with the oceans to help address the climate and food crisis. Our focus at the time was on the marine environment but we realised that the oceans and the land must sometimes work together to achieve a common goal. Therefore, it was logical for us to move onshore to develop renewable energy parks. In terms of project development, we are deploying the same skillsets we apply to all our business pillars; identifying opportunities and initiating and derisking early-stage projects. In Simply Blue Group, we have a hugely committed team of technical experts and visionaries who are helping us do just that.”

The three sustainable fuels projects are currently in engineering design phase, with the Canadian project expected to be in construction in 2026. Simply Blue Group believes there is a significant opportunity to produce SAF for the aviation market, with most forecasts suggesting a significant global SAF supply deficit. Simply Blue Group’s projects are perfectly placed to supply this market, using competitive renewable electricity and large-scale sustainable biomass supply resulting in a potential saving of millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year.