Heliogen, Dimensional Energy collaborate to produce SAF

Hydrogen will be produced out of steam and air from Heliogen's concentrated solar technology, which will then be used in Dimensional Energy's Reactor platform to make SAF. (Photo: Heliogen Inc.)

Heliogen Inc. announced this month it has entered into a letter of intent (LOI) with Dimensional Energy to jointly produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at Heliogen’s concentrated solar thermal demonstration facility in Lancaster, California.

The companies will work to deploy Heliogen’s proprietary, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered HelioHeat™ technology to convert sunlight directly into thermal energy in the form of high-temperature steam and air that will be used to produce green hydrogen for Dimensional Energy’s Reactor platform.

The hydrogen will be produced leveraging the previously announced successful demonstration of Heliogen’s concentrated solar technology. As part of the collaboration between Heliogen and Dimensional Energy, the LOI includes a goal of building a fully integrated SAF demonstration scaled at roughly 1 barrel (42 gallons) per day.

The parties expect the demonstration project to be a first step to develop a pipeline for approximately 3 million barrels (126 million gallons) of fuel over the next 10 years.

As previously announced, Dimensional Energy has signed a commercial agreement to supply United Airlines with 300 million gallons of SAF over 20 years.

The airline industry is responsible for nearly 3 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions, while the United Nations expects airplane emissions of carbon dioxide to triple by 2050.

SAF is a direct replacement for conventional jet fuel, and can enable the rapid decarbonization of the global aviation sector when produced from carbon-free energy sources like the sun instead of petroleum.

The SAF market is projected to grow from $219 million in 2021 to $15.7 billion by 2030, expanding at a 60.8 percent compounded annual growth rate, according to ResearchandMarkets.com.

“At Heliogen, our mission is to decarbonize industry by delivering advanced renewable energy systems that are more affordable than fossil fuels and we are thrilled to collaborate with Dimensional Energy to advance the decarbonization of the aviation industry,” said Bill Gross, founder and CEO of Heliogen. “Dimensional’s flexible thermal utilization platform is the most scalable and cost-effective solution, and when combined with Heliogen’s transformative concentrated solar technology, this partnership brings us one crucial step closer to a future where we can fly planes on fuel created by sunlight and air—not fossil fuels.”

Jason Salfi, co-founder and CEO of Dimensional Energy, added, “This collaboration with Heliogen represents a key development in our vision of a world free from fossil-fuel dependency. Leveraging Heliogen’s breakthrough technology to use sunlight to produce SAF will help demonstrate the potential for a truly carbon-free, more affordable, and drop-in replacement for conventional jet fuel.”