Heliogen Selected for U.S. Department of Energy Award to Demonstrate First-of-its-Kind Design for Decarbonizing Cement Manufacturing

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Heliogen, Inc. (Heliogen) (NYSE: HLGN), a renewable energy technology company utilizing concentrated sunlight and thermal storage to decarbonize industry, today announced that it has been selected to receive a $4,100,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to accelerate the large-scale development and deployment of concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) technology for industrial decarbonization and electrical power generation and storage. This project will aim to demonstrate a first-of-its-kind concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) process for decarbonizing the heating of limestone to 950°C, which could reduce the carbon emissions associated with cement manufacturing.

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Heliogen, in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Michigan, Martin Marietta and CTP Advanced Composites, aims to demonstrate a solar-driven calciner utilizing the Heliogen concentrated solar thermal system to heat up the feedstock and drive endothermic chemical decarbonation up to 950oC. This demonstration aims to provide a foundation for developing a commercial solar calcination system enabling CO2 capture and heat recovery, including solar calciner design and modeling tools, prototype fabrications and testing, and technoeconomic analysis for future scale-up in industrial applications. When applied to a multi-acre field, Heliogen’s AI/computer-vision based control system can achieve the high temperatures required for solar thermal calcination research.

Energy-intensive cement production contributes approximately 7% of global CO2 emissions, while over 80% of the energy used in cement production is consumed by calcination. The receiver-reactor and associated technologies developed for this project will aim to eliminate the majority of CO2 emissions to significantly decarbonize cement production.

“We are very pleased to have been selected for this award, which will accelerate our R&D efforts and enable us to further demonstrate the impact of Heliogen’s CSP technology,” said Paul Gauche, Executive Vice President for Engineering, Heliogen, Inc. “This project is an important step in our mission to enable the decarbonization of heavy industries like cement production, essential to meeting global greenhouse gas emissions targets.”

Heliogen was selected as a part of the SETO 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 substantial deployment of CSP to decarbonize the electricity grid and energy system. Heliogen’s solar-driven calciner design 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.

About Heliogen

Heliogen is a renewable energy technology company focused on decarbonizing industry and empowering a sustainable civilization. The company’s concentrating solar energy and thermal storage systems aim to deliver carbon-free heat, steam, power, or green hydrogen at scale to support round-the-clock industrial operations. Powered by AI, computer vision and robotics, Heliogen is focused on providing robust clean energy solutions that accelerate the transition to renewable energy, without compromising reliability, availability, or cost. For more information about Heliogen, please visit heliogen.com.

About the Solar Energy Technologies Office

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office supports research and development across the solar energy spectrum to drive innovation, lower costs, and support an equitable transition to a decarbonized economy. Learn more at energy.gov/solar-office.