KGAL backs green aviation with investment in Danish hydrogen production facility

KGAL’s latest European renewable energy fund has invested in a Danish hydrogen production facility that will produce climate-neutral synthetic aviation fuel (eSAF).

The €16bn asset manager said it has held a first close for ESPF 6 and the fund has invested in an Arcadia eFuels production facility in Vordingborg.

The plant is expected to produce approximately 68,000 tonnes eSAF a year using self-produced green hydrogen from mid-2026, KGAL said.

ESPF 6, an Article 9 energy transition fund, under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, focuses on new hydrogen infrastructure projects in the European Union and the UK. The manager said ESPF 6 has a further 30 green hydrogen and energy transition projects in the pipeline – two of which are in advanced negotiations.

Michael Ebner, managing director of KGAL Investment Management, said: “From aviation and logistics to the steel and chemical industries, from water treatment to agriculture – almost anywhere that direct decarbonisation through green power reaches its limits, green hydrogen can be the solution.

“Given the multitude of possible applications, there is enormous potential. Straits Research, for example, forecasts that the green hydrogen market in Europe will grow by an average of 55 percent per year up to 2030.”

Thomas Engelmann, head of energy transition at KGAL, said: “The demand for eSAF will increase exponentially and we will be among the first to deliver.

“What is more, Arcadia’s management, led by Amy Hebert, has decades of experience in the refinery and chemical business. Our partners know the market and the technologies down to the last detail.”

Florian Martin, managing director of KGAL Investment Management, said: “For about three years, green hydrogen has been hotly debated in the investment industry. What was lacking, however, were clear regulatory frameworks, funding mechanisms and, above all, concrete projects. This is now changing, as can be seen in KGAL ESPF 6.”

Arcadia eFuels CEO Amy Hebert, said: “Arcadia is fulfilling the promise of creating the world’s future fuels to power the world while protecting the environment. The team at KGAL have become great partners, seeing our vision of building production facilities at scale to serve the growing needs of decarbonised fuel for aviation and logistics.”

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