Project outlines for the establishment and operation of a development platform for electricity-based liquid fuels (power-to-liquid, PtL) with a production capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes of PtL fuel per year can be submitted as of immediately to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI – Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur).
The PtL development platform will serve both research and demonstration purposes to close the gap between the development and industrial market ramp-up of PtL fuels. The focus will be on aviation and marine transport.
Kurt-Christoph von Knobelsdorff, Managing Director NOW GmbH: “In order to achieve climate neutrality in shipping and aviation, we need sustainably produced power-to-liquid fuels – in the shortest possible timeframe. The development platform sets out to create a combined research and demonstration facility on a semi-industrial scale to serve as a catalyst for the start of industrial PtL production. In this way, we can leverage German know-how to support the market ramp-up of PtL.”
The funding call launched today is designed to select a science and research institution to coordinate the establishment and operation of the PtL platform. The allocation of funding will be determined in a multi-stage competition. The submission of project outlines for participation in the 1st stage is possible as of now and until 15 October 2021. Detailed information regarding the call for funding as well as the submission of outlines can be found here.
This funding opportunity for the PtL development platform is part of the BMVI’s overall funding concept for renewable fuels, which is allocating a total of 1.54 billion euros in funding support for the period 2021-2024. The overall funding concept is comprised of four measures:
- A first funding guideline for the development of renewable fuels ( Förderrichtlinie zur Entwicklung regenerativer Kraftstoffe) was already published on 11 May 2021 and is dedicated to the further development of renewable fuel technologies. It is primarily aimed at applied research as well as demonstration and pilot projects.
⠀⠀⠀⠀ - The competitive funding call published today for the establishment and operation of a PtL development platform is intended to establish a research and demonstration facility on a semi-industrial scale and to pave the way for the market uptake of PtL fuels.
⠀⠀⠀⠀ - A further funding guideline focuses on investments in the conversion or new construction of renewable fuel generation facilities (electricity-based fuels and advanced biofuels) to make them more widely available on the market. The funding guideline is to be published in the 2nd half of 2021.
⠀⠀⠀⠀ - The fourth funding measure is intended to provide targeted support for the market ramp-up of electricity-based kerosene (aviation fuel). A preliminary study has been commissioned on the possibilities for structuring the funding design, and feedback from market participants has been collected since the beginning of August in the form of a non-binding call for outlines. The binding competitive funding procedure based on this is scheduled to commence at the beginning of 2022.
The PtL development platform will be part of the German Centre for Mobility (DZM – Deutsches Zentrum Mobilität). The DZM will create a superordinate platform for the creative, interdisciplinary and innovative conceptualisation and development of forward-looking mobility concepts and their direct testing in practice. The PtL development platform is integrated here as a key development centre in the “electricity-based fuels” thematic cluster.