Synhelion solar fuels impress investors

Synhelion has raised a total of 16 million Swiss francs as part of a Series B financing round, further details of which can be found in a press release. This round was led by Swiss KMU Partners, although the investment firm Orchilla and SMS Concast, which forms part of the SMS Group, the continuous casting specialists, were also involved to a significant extent too.

Synhelion intends to use this fresh capital injection to build the world’s first plant for the industrial production of solar fuels in Jülich, a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It will cover the entire integrated technology chain from concentrated sunlight to synthetic, liquid fuel. The specific end products will take the form of solar kerosene and solar gasoline. Operations at the plant are scheduled to begin in 2023.

The solar fuels developed by Synhelion are primarily designed for use in long-distance transportation. In shipping and aviation, energy carriers with extremely high energy densities are required that current battery technology is unable to offer, the company explains in the press release. Liquid synthetic fuels could, however, help to fulfil these requirements.

Synhelion has also agreed partnerships with its investors. In so doing, it should be possible for the company based in Lugano in the canton of Ticino to make solar fuels available on the market “at an unprecedented low price that is competitive with fossil fuels”. In addition, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy announced in mid-October that it would provide funding of just under 4 million euros for the project located in Jülich.

The planned facility is based on the solar thermal process developed by Synhelion that focuses on generating intense process heat from concentrated sunlight. The start-up, which was spun off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) in 2016, demonstrated the feasibility of the plant using a scaled-down system installed on the roof of the ETH.