The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced the availability of $300 million in discretionary grant funds as part of their Fueling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition (FAST) program. The goal of the program is to help achieve net-zero emissions in the aviation sector by 2025, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden last year. It is also one of many actions the Administration is taking to spur domestic production of billions of gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) per the Administration’s SAF Grand Challenge: producing 3 billion gallons of SAF per year by 2030 and 35 billion gallons of SAF per year—or 100 percent of aviation fuel demand—by 2050. The program will support a diversity of feedstocks, including the use of waste carbon oxides and direct air capture. The program’s express attention to feedstocks that are not necessarily biogenic appears to be a recognition by the Administration that a wider array of feedstocks will be necessary to meet its ambitious climate goals.

The deadline to submit an application is November 27, 2023.

FAST-SAF:

$245 million of the funding has been made available to support the development of sustainable aviation fuels (FAST-SAF). Projects eligible for the FAST-SAF portion of the program fall into the following categories:

1. SAF Production, including upgrading of existing fuel/diesel/ethanol facilities to produce SAF;
2. SAF Transportation, including barriers and opportunities for SAF delivery, transportation infrastructure, pipelines, and cost/carbon intensity of transportation;
3. SAF Blending, including identifying blending sites, facility design characteristics, and establishing blending facilities; and
4. SAF Storage, including enabling SAF storage for neat and pre-blending SAF, and ensuring testing capabilities at storage facilities.

What qualifies as SAF under the FAST-SAF program?  The eligibility requirements for SAF are complex, and depend on the precise nature of an applicant’s process, feedstocks, and final chemical composition. Potential applications should consult an advisor experienced in the IRA and relevant ASTM standards to determine if their SAF is or can be made eligible for this program.  The program’s definition of SAF is similar to the IRA SAF definition. Under the program definition, eligible SAF includes hydrocarbon fuels that meet the requirements of ASTM D7566 or the co-processing provisions of ASTM D1655, Annex A1.  Those are the technical standards that ensure that SAF blends are capable of being used as a drop-in aviation fuel. SAF must be derived from biomass, waste streams, renewable energy, or gaseous carbon oxides, and may not be derived from palm fatty acid distillates. And importantly, qualifying SAF also must achieve an at least 50% reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions compared with petroleum-derived jet fuel as determined by using a methodology similar to the one adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization with the agreement of the United States or by another methodology approved by the Secretary of Energy. Applications will be reviewed to ensure a diversity of feedstocks, including the use of waste carbon oxides and direct air capture.

Two tiers of FAST-SAF grants are being awarded under this program Tier 1 grants are smaller awards focused on regional supply chains, where Tier 2 grants are larger awards for infrastructure projects to facilitate and scale fuel production, transportation, blending, and storage.

FAST-TECH:

$47 million of the funding has been allocated to the development of low-emission aviation technologies (FAST-TECH). Projects eligible for the FAST-TECH portion of the program fall into the following categories:

1. Low-Emission Aviation Technology Development, focused on projects with near-term impact on emissions from future engine and aircraft designs; and
2. Enhanced Test/Demonstration Capability, focused on the development of testing and demonstration capabilities to understand and mature low-emission aviation technologies.

Under the program guidelines, low-emissions technology is defined as technologies produced in the US that significantly improve aircraft fuel efficiency, increase utilization of sustainable aviation fuel, or reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced during operation of civil aircraft.

Eligibility and Evaluation Criteria:

For both portions of the program, eligible applicants include state and local governments, airports, air carriers, academic and research institutions, other aviation industry businesses, and nonprofits. Federally funded R&D centers (FFRDCs) and foreign entities are eligible, though projects must be located in the US. Projects must be ready to begin work by August 1, 2024, and complete within a 5-year max period of performance. Federal cost-share is 75% of project cost (90% for small or non-hub airport awardees).

Applications are reviewed based on the following statutory criteria (in descending order of importance):

1. The capacity for eligible entity to increase the domestic production and deployment of sustainable aviation fuel or the use of low-emission aviation technologies among the United States commercial aviation and aerospace industry;
2. The projected greenhouse gas emissions from such project, including emissions resulting from the development of the project, and the potential the project has to reduce or displace, on a lifecycle basis, United States greenhouse gas emissions associated with air travel;
3. For projects related to the production of sustainable aviation fuel, the projected lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions benefits from the proposed project, which shall include feedstock and fuel production and potential direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (including resulting from changes in land use) (SAF production projects only);
4. The capacity to create new jobs and develop supply chain partnerships in the United States; and
5. The soundness of the technical work plan.

Intellectual Property:

Documentation related to the program indicates that intellectual property rights will be discussed with each applicant pre-award, and generally states the following: The FAA plans to share the details of this work as required to advance the program goals within the U.S. aerospace community in a timely manner. The FAA intends to publicly share information that does not disclose proprietary design or performance information, or information from which proprietary design or performance information can be derived.

Applicants will want to ensure that ownership rights to any intellectual property developed as a result of this grant funding are discussed with the FAA prior to receiving their award. Additionally, to the extent eligible technology is ready for patenting prior to the award, it may be beneficial to file a patent application prior to the start of the award period, or to minimally document any inventive activity prior to the award period.

More information is available in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.