FinDev Canada backs Brazil SAF biorefinery with $58 million loan

FinDev Canada on July 16 committed a US$58 million loan to Acelen Renewables for a Bahia biorefinery that will use HEFA technology to make sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. The Canadian development financier said the deal is part of an US$854 million construction facility, adding another public lender to a capital stack built to scale low-carbon fuel production in Brazil.

The project is centered in Bahia, where Acelen Renewables is building a large-scale biorefinery scheduled to enter commercial operations in 2029. Project disclosures put annual output at about 1 billion litres, split between SAF and renewable diesel, also described as HVO or RD. FinDev Canada said its loan supports climate action and local economic growth in Brazil, putting a Canadian DFI behind an asset that is meant to serve both aviation decarbonization and domestic industrial development.

Acelen Renewables has framed the plant as part of a broader seed-to-fuel strategy, with feedstocks expected to include vegetable oils, waste oils and tallow. Earlier company-linked materials also identified macaúba as a feedstock initiative tied to the project, underscoring the push to build a dedicated biomass supply chain around the Bahia hub. The financing structure points to a risk-sharing model that is becoming more common in capital-intensive SAF projects, where development lenders, commercial lenders and strategic backers help bridge construction risk before first production.

The Acelen financing had already crossed a major threshold in May 2026, when the company said it had secured US$1.5 billion for the project. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank later disclosed it would lend US$58 million for the same biorefinery package, saying the development is intended to contribute to the decarbonization of the aviation sector by scaling commercial SAF production in Brazil. With both FinDev Canada and AIIB now publicly attached to the same buildout, Bahia has emerged as a focal point for global sustainable fuels capital seeking project-scale exposure in Latin America.