Synhelion and its partner, University of Florida, have otained $ 2.7 million for their joint project from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). The project aims to accelerate the large-scale development and deployment of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) technology to produce green hydrogen for industrial decarbonization and electric power generation and storage.
The joint project of the University of Florida (UF) and Swiss startup Synhelion aims to enable large-scale production of green hydrogen from solar energy by leveraging concentrating solar power (CSP) infrastructure and solar heat to split water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Synhelion’s breakthrough technology delivers high-temperature solar process heat beyond 1’500°C, enabling the decarbonization of industrial processes and the production of sustainable fuels.
For this project, Synhelion and the UF will jointly develop a solar reactor powered by high-temperature solar thermal energy to produce hydrogen gas from water and sunlight. The hydrogen produced can then be stored, transported, and utilized on demand, for example, in transportation sectors that are focused on decarbonizing their industries.
The production costs of green hydrogen – that is, hydrogen from renewable resources as opposed to fossil sources, such as natural gas – remain a major barrier to wide-scale adoption in the transportation sector. The project team will work to improve the efficiency and cost of solar thermochemical hydrogen production by taking advantage of new redox materials. Redox materials are reactive materials that enable chemical reactions in the reactor.
The joint project was awarded as part of the SETO’s Fiscal Year 2022 CSP Research, Development, and Demonstration funding program, an effort to lower the cost of CSP technologies and create new market opportunities for the industry, with the goal of enabling the substantial deployment of CSP to decarbonize the electricity grid and energy system. It is one of several projects that will enable concentrating solar-thermal technologies with thermal energy storage to be integrated with high-temperature industrial processes to produce economically important products like cement, fuels, and other chemicals.
Gianluca Ambrosetti, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Synhelion, added: “The U.S. Department of Energy’s funding of this project underscores the relevance of our technology and the need for sustainable energy solutions. Together with the University of Florida, we are committed to replacing fossil energy sources with renewable alternatives as quickly as possible.”
(Press release)
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