Verso Energy awards FEED contract for DEZiR project to Rely for site in Normandy

Verso Energy announced it has awarded the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract to Rely for its sustainable aviation fuel project, named DEZiR, located in Petit-Couronne, Normandy. This contract marks a strategic milestone in the industrial development of e-SAF (electro-Sustainable Aviation Fuel) infrastructure, a technology aimed at reducing aviation emissions.

The DEZiR project is the first in France to reach the FEED stage for e-SAF at an industrial scale and is among the most advanced in Europe. This development follows a memorandum of understanding signed between the two partners earlier this year. The FEED phase will provide the level of technical and financial definition required to secure the project and prepare for the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) phase.

A structuring phase for a selected European project

The project was selected under the 2024 European Innovation Fund, a programme supporting low-carbon industrial technologies, and also benefits from the France 2030 initiative. DEZiR aims to standardise aviation fuel production through a Methanol-to-Jet process, with a modular approach designed for replicability and reduced production costs.

The objective is to enable large-scale production of cost-competitive e-SAF on the global market. The announcement was made during the Choose France event, designed to promote France’s economic attractiveness in strategic sectors such as energy.

A global ambition supported by an industrialised platform

Verso Energy plans to deploy seven similar plants worldwide, with a total annual production capacity of over 500,000 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel. This volume would enable up to 90% greenhouse gas emissions reduction over the full life cycle compared to fossil-based kerosene.

Rely, specialised in Power-to-X (PtX) solutions, brings its expertise in the design and integration of complex energy systems. Its Chief Executive Officer, Damien Eyriès, highlighted the importance of this partnership with Verso Energy in establishing a French value chain capable of emerging in a market still dominated by pilot or small-scale projects.