2023

DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) released a Summary Report from a September 2023 Request for Information (RFI) on building supply chains to meet SAF Grand Challenge goals. The RFI requested input from industry, academia, national laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders to identify opportunities for developing effective supply chains capable of meeting SAF Grand Challenge goals. The RFI was open to the public for two months and collected feedback from stakeholders resulting in multiple key takeaways. 

Read the report

DOE BETO released the 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), which shows that the United States could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons per year. The report—the fourth in a series of assessments of potential biomass resources in the United States since 2005—finds that 1 billion tons of biomass could satisfy over 100% of the projected demand for airplane fuel in the country, allowing the United States to fully decarbonize the aviation industry with SAF. 

Read more about the BT23 release

USDA released the report Building a Resilient Biomass Supply: A Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America. The plan presents recommendations for programs; research, development, and demonstration (RD&D); and policies that could increase biomass availability, build supply chain systems resilience, and expand the use of domestic biomass within the bioeconomy. 

Read more about this report

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a funding opportunity announcement (FOA), entitled, “Inflation Reduction Act Funding for Advanced Biofuels,” for up to $9.4 million for the development of advanced biofuels. This investment through a new agreement between EPA and DOE is funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and will support high-impact biofuel technology projects to improve the performance and reduce the cost of biofuel production technologies, scale up production systems in partnership with industry, and accelerate the nation’s bioeconomy. 

Read more about this FOA

DOE BETO announced $29 million in funding to drive RD&D of low-carbon-intensity, purpose-grown energy crops critical to accelerating a clean energy economy. The “Regional Resource Hubs for Purpose-Grown Energy Crops” FOA will advance a domestic supply chain of alternative carbon sources necessary to produce biofuels and bioproducts to decarbonize the transportation and industry sectors, as well as innovate and grow the U.S. agricultural industry. 

Read more about this funding announcement

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched a new competitive grant program: Fueling Aviation's Sustainable Transition, or FAST, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The FAST grant program will make investments to accelerate production and use of SAF and the development of low-emission aviation technologies to support the U.S. aviation climate goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The SAF elements of the program, termed FAST-SAF, will provide $245 million to advance the deployment of jet fuels made from renewable sources that provide greater than 50% reduction in life cycle carbon dioxide emissions and can be used safely in today’s aircraft and engines. FAST-SAF will support the build-out of infrastructure projects related to SAF production, transportation, blending, and storage, while also supporting scoping studies related to infrastructure needs for SAF. The application period for the Notice of Funding Opportunity opened on Sept. 25, 2023, and closed on Dec. 4, 2023. The FAA announced award selections on August 16, 2024, allocating the full program allotment of $291 million across 36 projects.

To significantly reduce the negative impacts of GHG emissions from carbon-based fuels and products critical to our way of life, DOE launched the Clean Fuels & Products Shot™. The seventh initiative associated with DOE’s Energy Earthshots™, this Shot focuses on decarbonizing the fuel and chemical industry through alternative sources of carbon to advance cost-effective technologies with a minimum of 85% lower GHG emissions by 2035. The Clean Fuels & Product Shot builds on DOE’s role in the interagency SAF Grand Challenge. 

Learn more

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued three notices asking for comments on different aspects of extensions and enhancements of energy tax benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The IRS anticipates that constructive comments from interested parties will aid the agency in drafting the guidance items most reflective of the needs of taxpayers entitled to claim energy credits.

 Learn more about the upcoming energy guidance

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm announced the release of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Roadmap, a comprehensive plan that outlines a government-wide strategy for scaling up new technologies to produce SAF across the U.S. airline industry. A collaboration between DOE, USDA, DOT, EPA, and FAA, the Roadmap will spur technological innovation to produce SAF, position the country as a global leader in the emerging SAF market, and enable America to meet President Biden’s clean energy goal of a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. 

Read more about the SAF Grand Challenge Roadmap objectives

As part of a White House roundtable to launch the SAF Grand Challenge to decarbonize the aviation sector by 2050, DOE announced $64.7 million in funding for projects focused on producing cost-effective, low-carbon biofuels. These investments will advance technologies to create replacements for petroleum fuels used in heavy-duty forms of transportation, like airplanes and ships, and accelerate America’s path to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. 

Learn more about the biofuels research to reduce airplane and ship emissions.

The Treasury Department and IRS released guidance on Section 40B SAF on April 30, 2024. As part of the release, DOE also published the 40B SAF GREET model and user manual. The notice provides important clarity around eligibility for the SAF tax credit, which incentivizes the production of SAF that achieves a life cycle GHG emissions reduction of at least 50% compared to petroleum-based jet fuel. 

The notice also, on a pilot basis, incorporates a USDA pilot program to encourage the use of certain Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices for SAF feedstocks. Incorporating CSA practices into the production of SAF provides multiple benefits, including lower overall GHG emissions associated with SAF production and increased adoption of farming practices that are associated with other environmental benefits, such as improved water quality and soil health. 

See the Treasury press release and IRS news release for more details.