Pilatus to procure solar fuel from Synhelion

From 2027 onwards, Pilatus Flugzeugwerke Ltd. will be procuring 200 tons of solar fuel per year from Synhelion. The aircraft manufacturer based in Stans in the canton of Nidwalden, Switzerland, has signed a corresponding fuel offtake agreement with the solar fuel pioneer from Lugano in the canton of Ticino, further details of which can be found in a press release issued by Synhelion. The agreement serves to strengthen the companies’ joint commitment to ending the reliance on fossil fuels in the aviation sector.

It was only in June of this year that Pilatus and Synhelion announced the start of a strategic partnership, through which Pilatus has invested in Synhelion and became a shareholder in the company. “We are delighted that our strategic partnership with Synhelion has resulted in the first signed fuel offtake agreement”, states Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus, in the press release. “We intend to use synthetic fuel in our own fleet as soon as possible and offer it to our customers at a later stage”, he adds. In a first step, the solar fuel is to be used for test and demonstration flights with Pilatus.

Synhelion is planning to manufacture this synthetic kerosene at its future commercial production plant for solar fuels in Spain. The plant will feature a capacity of 1,000 tons of solar fuels per year and is set to be operational by the start of 2027. “We are thrilled to welcome Pilatus not only as a strategic partner and investor but also as a key customer in our global rollout of solar fuels”, as Philipp Furler, co-CEO and co-founder of Synhelion, comments in the press release. As recently as June, the pioneering firm put its first industrial demonstration plant for the production of solar fuels into operation in Germany. ce/hs