Swiss solar fuels start-up Synhelion raises funds for fuels plant in Germany

Swiss solar fuels start-up Synhelion SA announced on Tuesday that it has raised CHF 16 million (USD 17.5m/EUR 15.1m) in Series B funding to secure proceeds to launch industrial scale production of synthetic liquid fuels using solar heat.

The funding round was led by investment firm Swiss KMU Partners AG, with backing from Switzerland-based investor Orchilla AG and steel sector player SMS Concast. CEMEX Ventures, the venture capital arm of construction materials company Cemex SAB de CV ADR (NYSE: CX), Swiss car dealership AMAG Group Ltd and other private investors provided additional support, Synhelion said.

Synhelion will use the funds to build and operate a solar fuels plant in Juelich, Germany. There, the set-up will cover the entire process, from concentrating the sunlight to producing synthetic light fuel on an industrial scale.

Synhelion says its solar fuels are fully compatible with conventional internal combustion engines, aircraft engines and existing fuel infrastructure.

Synhelion recently announced it had received funding from the German federal ministry for economic affairs and energy (BMWi) to support the plan for the Juelich plant. Before that, Synhelion acquired German concentrated solar power (CSP) technology company Heliokon GmbH.

(CHF 1.0 = USD 1.095/ EUR 0.945)

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