On 20th June, Synhelion officially launched DAWN, the “world’s first industrial-scale [solar] plant”, in Jülich, Germany. The plant will create synthetic liquid fuels by utilising solar energy.
The DAWN site includes a mirror field and a 20m high solar tower, resulting in Synhelion’s technology being used on an industrial scale. A solar receiver is used in the tower, alongside a thermochemical reactor and thermal energy storage.
DAWN is expected to produce “several thousand litres” of fuel per annum, beginning in 2024. The site will produce syncrude, a synthetic crude oil, which can be processed into “certified fuels” in a regular oil refinery.
According to the company, DAWN will demonstrate the ability of such plants to “defossilise the transportation sector, particularly in aviation”. This is due to the plant’s ability to produce solar-kerosene for aviation, alongside solar-gasoline and solar-diesel for transportation and shipping. These synthetic liquid fuels can replace their fossil fuel counterparts.
At the inauguration ceremony, Dr Philipp Furler, CEO and Co-Founder of Synhelion, announced: “Today is a historic day for Synhelion. The inauguration of DAWN marks the beginning of the era of solar fuels – a turning point for sustainable transportation.”
The celebration
As the inauguration of the plant took place on the summer solstice, the ceremony was attended by industry representatives and politicians.
Hartmut Höppner, State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport, said at the event: “In order to achieve the climate targets in the transport sector, we need alternatives to fossil fuels.
“The first plant for the production of solar fuels in Germany is a clear sign of how technical innovations can help to reduce CO2 emissions.”
Additionally, Heike Birlenbach, Chief Commercial Officer of Swiss International Air Lines, commented: “The large-scale use of sustainable aviation fuels is one of the most important measures to achieve the CO2 targets in aviation. The inauguration of DAWN marks a milestone in this process.”
More milestones ahead
Synhelion’s first commercial plant in Spain will begin construction in 2025 and is expected to produce around 1,000 tonnes of fuel per annum. From there, the company’s future projects will be much larger than the first two plants, reaching further towards its goal of producing a volume of around 1m of solar fuel annually within the next decade.
[Image credit: Synhelion]
