Swiss technology developer Synhelion has signed a five-year agreement to supply 200 tonnes of solar kerosene annually to Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, starting in 2027.
The fuel will come from Synhelion's commercial solar fuel plant RISE in Spain, which is slated to become operational that same year, with a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes of solar fuel annually.
This offtake agreement builds on the partnership between the two companies, following Pilatus' equity investment in Synhelion earlier in 2024.
Pilatus plans to initially use the solar fuel for its test and demonstration flights with the PC-12 and PC-24 aircraft.
“We are delighted that our strategic partnership with Synhelion has resulted in the first signed fuel offtake agreement. We intend to use synthetic fuel in our own fleet as soon as possible and offer it to our customers at a later stage,” said Markus Bucher, CEO of Pilatus Aircraft.
Synhelion, a spin-off from ETH Zurich launched in 2016, is pioneering the production of synthetic fuels using solar heat.
Earlier this year, the company inaugurated what is being hailed as the world's first industrial-scale plant to produce solar fuels.
