DAWN, the plant in Jülich, Germany, will produce several thousand liters of fuel per year. By inaugurating DAWN, Synhelion proves that the technology to produce solar fuels is ready for large scaling.
Synhelion inaugurated the world’s first industrial-scale plant to produce synthetic fuels using solar heat in Jülich, Germany. DAWN features a 20-meter-high solar tower and a mirror field. This marks the first time Synhelion’s innovations are integrated on an industrial scale. The solar tower contains a solar receiver, a thermochemical reactor, and a thermal energy storage that enables cost-efficient solar fuel production.
DAWN will produce several thousand liters of fuel per year. Production is expected to start in 2024. On-site, the plant will produce synthetic crude oil, known as syncrude. This intermediate product is particularly suitable to be transported. The syncrude is then processed into certified fuels in a conventional oil refinery. Thus, Synhelion will produce not only solar kerosene for aviation, but also solar gasoline and solar diesel for road transportation and shipping applications. Solar fuels can directly replace fossil fuels and are fully compatible with the global existing fuel infrastructure – from storage and transportation to internal combustion engines and aircraft engines.
Synhelion will begin building its first commercial plant in Spain in 2025. The plant will produce a total of around 1’000 tons of fuel per year. Planned future plants will significantly exceed the size of the first two plants and thus offer a much higher production capacity. Synhelion aims to achieve an annual production volume of around one million tons of solar fuel within ten years.
(Press release / SK)
The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
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