United Airlines, through its venture fund United Airlines Ventures (UAV), will invest up to US$37.5 million in NEXT Renewable Fuels, a company that is advancing the development of a biofuel refinery in Port Westward, Oregon, with plans to start production in 2026. The amount is subject to NEXT meeting certain milestone targets.
This plant has the potential for up to 50,000 barrels per day of sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel and other renewable fuels.
“Right now, one of the biggest barriers to increasing supply and lowering costs of sustainable fuel is that we don’t have the infrastructure in place to transport it efficiently, but NEXT’s strategic location and assets solve that problem and provide a blueprint for future facilities that need to be built,” said Michael Leskinen, President of United Airlines Ventures.
“We believe this investment will not only bolster NEXT’s ambitions and create near-term solutions to expand our SAF supply, but further demonstrates our commitment toward producing SAF at the scale necessary to decarbonize the aviation industry,” he added.
“The clean fuels industry is taking off and our access to feedstocks, multi-modal distribution, and major industry players positions us to be a leading SAF supplier on the West Coast,” said Christopher Efird, CEO and Chairperson of NEXT.
Among the strategic advantages they highlight of the biorefinery is access to a deepwater port, an existing industrial-grade dock, and multi-modal logistics options that facilitate access to feedstock and SAF’s West Coast consumer markets. They also detailed that NEXT has an agreement with BP for sourcing 100% of its feedstock, “further de-risking supply issues smaller facilities have historically experienced”.
United Airlines Ventures is also involved in other technology development projects such as Alder Fuels, Archer, Cemvita Factory, Dimensional Energy, CLEAR, Eve Air Mobility, Fulcrum Bioenergy, Heart Aerospace and ZeroAvia.
