Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed Assembly Bill 619, the Forestry Revitalization Act, on April 2, 2026, authorizing up to $120 million in state tax credits for a proposed $1.5 billion sustainable aviation fuel facility in Hayward, Wisconsin. The plant, developed by German company Synthec Fuels in partnership with Wisconsin-based Johnson Timber, will convert woody biomass into SAF and naphtha, targeting operations by 2029.
State-level SAF tax incentive legislation is still rare in the United States. Wisconsin’s decision to legislate a specific production incentive tied to a single project, rather than waiting for federal action, reflects a different model from California’s proposed approach: where California’s Governor Newsom proposed a broader SAF tax credit program worth up to $300 million annually, Wisconsin’s law is structured around certifying a single qualifying business with a fixed cap and a domestic feedstock sourcing requirement attached.
The facility will process approximately 880,000 tonnes of woody biomass annually, including bark, branches, cutter shavings, and treetops. The law requires that at least 80% of feedstock consumed, measured by aggregate volume over the first five years of operation, come from Wisconsin sources. The output, SAF and naphtha, is intended primarily for export to European markets, where ReFuelEU blending mandates are driving demand for CORSIA-qualified feedstocks. Woody biomass qualifies as a CORSIA-eligible feedstock under current ICAO criteria.
“This bipartisan legislation will create hundreds of high-paying jobs in rural communities, while positioning Wisconsin as a national leader in the production of sustainable aviation fuel.” — Gov. Tony Evers
“This bipartisan legislation will create hundreds of high-paying jobs in rural communities, while positioning Wisconsin as a national leader in the production of sustainable aviation fuel,” Governor Evers said. The bill passed the Wisconsin Assembly 94-5 and the Wisconsin Senate 31-2, reflecting cross-party support for a project framed around forestry sector employment rather than energy policy. Only one business may be certified under the program, and SAF must constitute the majority of the facility’s biofuel output.
The Hayward plant would be the first large-scale SAF facility built around forestry residues in the United States. The woody biomass pathway has attracted policy attention in Europe, where several projects are targeting similar feedstocks to meet ReFuelEU targets, but US commercial-scale deployment has lagged. If the Hayward project reaches its 2029 operational date, it would begin producing SAF roughly concurrent with the tightening of European blending requirements, targeting a market that is legally required to take qualified fuel.
Source: Biomass Magazine, April 2026
