Synhelion and its partner the University of Florida have received funding amounting to 2.7 million US dollars from the Solar Energy Technologies Office of the US Department of Energy. According to a press release from the company based in Lugano, their joint project aims to significantly accelerate the development and use of Synhelion’s concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) technology. This plans to create green hydrogen for industrial decarbonization and the generation and storage of electricity.
The technology from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich spin-off delivers high-temperature solar process heat of more than 1500°C. This is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which enables the decarbonization of industrial processes and the creation of sustainable fuels. Previously, fossil energy has been used for this.
Within this project, Synhelion and the University of Florida will develop a solar reactor powered by high-temperature solar thermal energy. Project Lead Professor Jonathan Scheffe from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida commented: “By leveraging Synhelion’s technological expertise, we are able to integrate new materials into solar thermal processes, which have the potential to lower hydrogen production costs.”
