Clean energy startup Heliogen, whose offerings include the Heliomax solution for solar energy-based cement production, has commercially launched its business.
The California-based company has backers including Bill Gates and says its mission is mission is to create "the world’s first technology" that can commercially replace fossil fuels with carbon-free, ultra-high temperature heat from the sun and to transform sunlight into fuels at scale, helping to combat climate change.
The company says its technology is suitable for cement production, which currently accounts for more than 7% of global CO2 emissions.
Coniciding with the commercial launch, Heliogen says it has for the first time concentrated solar energy to exceed temperatures greater than 1,000 degrees Celsius. At that temperature, Heliogen says that it can replace the use of fossil fuels in critical industrial processes, including the production of cement, steel, and petrochemicals, dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from these activities.
The company claims that its heat technology is a key technical breakthrough for concentrated solar thermal. It adds that previous commercial concentrating solar thermal systems have been designed to reach temperatures of up to only 565 degrees Celsius – useful for power generation, but insufficient for many industrial processes. Many of these processes require much higher temperatures, which have traditionally been reached through the burning of fossil fuels.
With temperatures from its concentrating solar thermal technology exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius, Heliogen claims it will be able to replace the fuel that generates greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes with solar energy for the first time.
In addition to industrial process heat, Heliogen’s technology roadmap calls for temperatures up to 1,500 degrees Celsius. At that temperature, Heliogen says it can perform CO2-splitting and water-splitting to make 100% fossil-free fuels such as hydrogen or syngas.
Heliogen's technology uses advanced computer vision software to hyper-accurately align a large array of mirrors to reflect sunlight to a single target. The firm’s founder and chief executive officer is Idealab founder Bill Gross, and its team includes scientists and engineers from Caltech, MIT, and other institutions.
Heliogen's strategic partner is Parsons Corporation, which serves the defence, intelligence, and critical infrastructure markets. Parsons has more than a decade of experience with the development and implementation of innovative solar thermal projects.
“The world has a limited window to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Gross. “We’ve made great strides in deploying clean energy in our electricity system. But electricity accounts for less than a quarter of global energy demand. Heliogen represents a technological leap forward in addressing the other 75% of energy demand: the use of fossil fuels for industrial processes and transportation. With low-cost, ultra-high temperature process heat, we have an opportunity to make meaningful contributions to solving the climate crisis.”
