New Portuguese biodiesel plant gets the green light

Portugal's environment regulator has approved a project by Galp to produce biodiesel and SAF using cooking oils at its Sines refinery.
Galp aims to build a Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) plant, with an initial investment of €269 million at its refinery south of Lisbon, where it plans to install its first 100-megawatt (MW) green hydrogen unit.
The green light from the regulator is essential for the company to take a final investment decision, Reuters reported.
Galp wants to accelerate its decarbonisation processes and plans to allocate around 50% of its capital expenditure to low-carbon activities through 2025.
In a statement, Portugal's APA environment agency said its favourable decision took into account "the identified negative impacts, generally possible to be minimised, and the expected positive impacts".
The agency noted that the project aimed to transform waste materials, such as used cooking oils and animal fats "into fuels for current use, of renewable origin, namely biodiesel and biojet", also known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The plant will have a maximum production capacity of 262,700 tons per year of biodiesel and 193,000 annual tons of biojet and other products, also from renewable sources, APA added.