Pasadena Company Developing Solar Energy Generation System Tallies Up $108 Million Round of Financing

Pasadena-based Heliogen, a renewable energy technology company that promoted unlocking the power of sunlight to replace fossil fuels, has raised $108 million in two funding rounds to accelerate the global deployment of its Sunlight Refinery, their turnkey concentrated solar energy system.

Sunlight Refinery aims to make carbon-free energy for high-temperature heat, power, and green hydrogen accessible and more cost-effective than fossil fuels for the first time, a company statement said.

Heliogen recently closed $83 million in funding, adding to the $25 million raised in the previous round, the statement said.

Among the new investors in Heliogen are ArcelorMittal, a global steel and mining leader; Edison International, Prime Movers Lab, Canada-based Ocgrow Ventures, A.T. Gekko, Gordon Crawford, and media-focused investor Rashaun Williams.

“This infusion of new support for Heliogen comes at a time when the paradigm shift toward clean energy is even further accelerated by the new realities the world is facing,” said Bill Gross, Heliogen CEO and founder.

“We’re being granted the resources to do more projects that address the most carbon-intensive human activities and work toward our goals of lowering the price and emissions of energy for everyone on the planet. We thank all of our investors for enabling us to pursue our mission and offer the world technology that will allow it to achieve a post-carbon economy.”

In November 2019, Heliogen said it had successfully demonstrated the first commercial solution for using concentrated solar energy to exceed temperatures greater than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Advanced computer vision software unique to the Sunlight Refinery system precisely aligns an array of mirrors to accurately reflect sunlight to a single target, delivering high-temperature, carbon-free thermal energy.

The baseline system will provide industrial-grade heat that will be capable of replacing fossil fuels in processes including cement, steel, and petrochemicals production, the company explained. The technology will also enable power generation through the addition of a supercritical carbon dioxide turbine and green hydrogen fuel production in combination with an electrolyzer.

Last March, Heliogen and Rio Tinto announced a partnership where Heliogen will deploy its proprietary AI-powered technology at Rio Tinto’s borates mine in Boron, California. Heliogen will use heat from the sun to generate and store carbon-free energy to power the mine’s industrial processes, significantly reducing carbon emissions at the site.

Some of Heliogen’s investors include leading global figures in the fight against the climate crisis, including Bill Gates, Patrick Soon-Shiong through his investment firm Nant Capital, Steve Case, and Neotribe Ventures.

To learn more about Heliogen and Sunlight Refinery, visit www.heliogen.com.