Flying Forest takes root in Finland

Flying Forest. The name has all the hallmarks of a neologism – the kind of phrase that sounds like it was conjured up in a moment of inspired wordplay, perhaps over a cup of coffee or during a spirited debate. As it turns out, that’s not far from the truth.

“We were in Sweden when we were setting up the company. And my wife asked: ‘What the company is about?,’” Dr. Paul Groves, CEO and founder tells SAF Investor. To which he answered: ‘Sustainable aviation fuels.’ Then she asked: ‘What are you making it from?’ Well, we’re making it from sawdust and waste wood. And she said: ‘Well, it’s like a flying forest.’”

Immediately after the name was finalised, Groves and his partners incorporated Flying Forest in Norwich, UK. And within a month, the company had already broken ground on its SAF plant on a 26.8ha site in Iisalmi, Finland.

“You have to work hard. As my mother told me, I was a Saturday child. And a Saturday child has to work hard for his living,” said Groves, who has spent 30 years in the energy markets. Having executed multiple projects at Shell, Petrofac and British Group, where he oversaw “some of the biggest carbon offset projects in Europe and bought and sold a few refineries,” Groves thinks he has the requisite experience to execute a SAF project in a short time.

Groves isn’t just relying on his experience and connections; he’s actively putting the pieces together for Flying Forest’s ambitious project. “You know, the first, almost the most difficult thing is to secure feedstock,” he explains. Fortunately, his team had been in talks with woodmill operator Acer Wood. The company insisted it can supply a significant amount of sawdust from its mills, solving the crucial feedstock issue.

With the raw material secured, the next step was finding a suitable site. Iisalmi, Finland, presented an opportunity with industrial land that had been prepared with government funding about a decade ago. The city was eager to see development on the site, which already had the necessary infrastructure and permissions in place.

“With feedstock, with support from the city, with a site that was already given industrial usage permission … that was a really good start,” Groves notes. His experience in the industry also means securing offtake agreements for the sustainable aviation fuel is relatively straightforward. “I know where to go to get offtakes. I’ve worked with big offtaking companies like BP, Total, Trafigura before,” he adds.

The technology aspect is also being addressed methodically. Flying Forest has shortlisted four potential partners for the biomass-to-liquid process. “We identify an EPC partner that we’re going to appoint. And right now we have proposals in from three of the world’s largest,” Groves explains. “We’re doing a bit of a beauty parade at the moment.”

An expert engineering company will act as their owner’s engineer, ensuring they have the necessary expertise to manage the project effectively.

Groves expects to contract their build partner soon: “I would think by the end of October that we will have identified our partner and contracted with them to build the first plant in Finland.”

He said the regulatory environment in Finland is also favourable, particularly because they’re using waste wood – a pathway already approved for producing SAF under American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) guidelines “This is a very good use of waste wood to decarbonise airplanes,” he explains.

By mid-first quarter of next year, Flying Forest aims to move into the next phase. “We will have done the conceptual engineering, we would have evaluated the options for the choice of technology … and then we’d be ready to go into more of a detailed engineering exercise, which is called front-end engineering design, FEED,” Groves outlines. Construction is slated to begin in early 2026, “if not before,” he adds optimistically.

When asked about incentives from the Finnish government, Groves says he is building a business model that doesn’t rely on incentives. “I’ve never done a business that required incentives to make it work, because that’s not a good business,” he states firmly.

Flying Forest seems to have all the ingredients for a successful SAF venture. But as any Saturday’s child knows, it’s the hard work ahead that will determine whether this forest truly takes flight or if it’s just blowing sawdust in the wind.