Brookfield Asset Management has committed to investing up to $1.1 billion in Infinium, a California-based startup that produces synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, using renewable power and waste carbon dioxide. The investment will come from Brookfield’s $15 billion decarbonization fund and marks the first direct investment in sustainable aviation fuel. Founded in 2020, Infinium’s ultra-low carbon fuels, including e-sustainable aviation fuel (e-SAF), e-diesel, and e-naphtha, serve as drop-in replacements for current fossil-based fuels without altering existing engines or infrastructure.
The company claims that its e-SAF can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 90% or more than conventional fuels. Infinium currently has more than a dozen projects in development globally, including “Project Roadrunner” in West Texas, which involves converting an existing gas-to-liquid facility into an e-fuels project.
Brookfield supports e-fuels production globally
Last year, the company announced a $75 million equity investment in Project Roadrunner from Breakthrough Energy Catalyst. Under the new partnership, more than $200 million will be invested in Infinium and Project Roadrunner, with up to an additional $850 million allocated to support the deployment of more e-fuels projects globally. Brookfield Managing Partner Jehangir Vevaina said, “Our investment is structured to provide the capital Infinium needs to accelerate the production of sustainable aviation fuels to meet the growing demand from corporate customers, while also generating attractive risk-adjusted returns.”
Infinium CEO Robert Schuetzle commented, “We are thrilled to secure this additional capital as we scale e-SAF production to meet the overwhelming demand from the aviation industry.
Our Project Pathfinder site was the first to bring commercial volumes of e-fuels to market, and Project Roadrunner brings additional volumes of e-fuels to scale global supplies.
The partnership with Infinium is a notable development in the clean energy sector, demonstrating confidence in the potential of e-fuels to contribute significantly to global decarbonization efforts. As countries and corporations increasingly commit to net-zero targets, the demand for alternative energy sources is anticipated to rise.
