In Short : Heliogen, in collaboration with Woodside Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy, achieves significant milestones in their concentrated solar technology project. These advancements mark a pivotal step toward harnessing sustainable solar energy, showcasing the potential for innovative solar solutions to power industries and contribute to a cleaner energy future.
In Detail : Particle receiver prototype design verification advances Heliogen’s 5MWe commercial-scale renewable power project
PASADENA, Calif. : Heliogen, Inc. (NYSE: HLGN) (the “Company”), a leading provider of AI-enabled concentrating solar energy technology, has completed two key product development milestones related to its Capella Project, the world’s first fully integrated Gen3 Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) commercial demonstration. They are the deployment of the first commercial-scale centrifugal particle receiver for on-sun testing and completion of the design verification of the prototype particle receiver for Capella. Together, these two milestones are essential to deploy Heliogen’s centrifugal particle receiver in the Capella Project, a collaboration with Woodside Energy (USA) Inc. (NYSE: WDS) and a funding award from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Upon completion, the Capella project will add to Heliogen’s portfolio of commercially ready technologies. Alongside the mature products Heliogen already offers for the industrial heat and large-scale power markets, the Gen3 CSP capabilities will broaden the space of potential applications to include variably sized power projects and improve economics for many customers.
“By using Heliogen’s next-generation solar energy technology, industrial energy users will be able to improve their bottom line while doing their part to mitigate climate change,” said Christie Obiaya, Chief Executive Officer of Heliogen. “Completing these two Capella milestones brings us one step closer to helping industries move into high-value, solar-powered processes and reduce dependence on volatile fossil fuels.”
Like any major advanced technology project, there are a lot of moving parts and iterative steps along the way. For Heliogen, the completed project milestones move the project closer to harnessing heat from the sun that will become electrical power. Heliogen’s particle receiver design uses solid materials like ceramic particles to safely capture and store heat from the sun at temperatures up to 750° C, then transfers that heat to a highly efficient power block to generate electricity. The particle receiver is an essential element in Capella, the world’s first fully integrated Generation 3 CSP plant combining solid-particle thermal energy storage and supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power generation to achieve unprecedented efficiencies.
“These milestones represent exciting progress in our collaboration to demonstrate the potential of Heliogen’s innovative, concentrated solar energy technology,” said Jason Crusan, Vice President, New Energy Growth and Solutions at Woodside. “They also advance the development of a technology solution that supports our commitment to building a low-cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio.”
Heliogen remains on track with its previously disclosed Capella development schedule, with front-end engineering design (FEED) forecasted for completion in late 2023 and groundbreaking planned for 2024, in line with previous guidance.
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.
About Woodside
Woodside is a global energy company, proudly Australian with a spirit of innovation and determination. Woodside provides energy that the world needs to heat homes, keep lights on and support industry. The company aims to thrive through the global energy transition with a low-cost, lower-carbon, profitable, resilient and diversified portfolio.
Woodside has a growing portfolio of carbon services (offsets, carbon capture and storage, carbon capture and utilization), hydrogen, ammonia, and renewable power opportunities in Australia and internationally. Our new energy opportunities include proposed hydrogen and ammonia projects H2Perth and H2TAS in Australia and a proposed hydrogen project H2OK in North America.