Bill Gates-backed solar startup brings carbon-free energy to mining

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In a bid to bring carbon-free energy to heavy industry, Heliogen announced on Wednesday that mining giant Rio Tinto plans to deploy the startup’s breakthrough solar technology at California’s largest open pit mine, located in Boron. . Heliogen says it will be the first concentrated solar technology used to power a mine in the United States, and possibly the world.
Heliogen will use artificial intelligence and a range of 40,000 computer vision controlled mirrors to harness the power of the sun, almost like a smart magnifying glass. Rio Tinto’s first system will be the size of about 100 attendance fields, Heliogen told CNN Business.

The startup claims that its HelioHeat technology can create extreme heat – 1,000 degrees Celsius, or about a quarter of what is on the surface of the sun. It is the type of heat needed to make cement, steel, and in other industrial processes like mining that typically rely on fossil fuels to power their operations.

The announcement made Rio Tinto (RIO), second largest mining company in the world, first announced customer of Heliogen. The partnership is a key test of whether Heliogen’s technology can truly replace fossil fuels used to power large-scale industrial operations. And that could go a long way in tackling the climate crisis.

“It’s not that this technology wasn’t possible before, just that it wasn’t cost effective,” Heliogen founder and CEO Bill Gross told CNN Business in an email. “Heliogen’s breakthrough is to run concentrated solar power after sunset AND be cost effective compared to fossil fuels at the same time.”

The companies say the partnership will allow Rio Tinto to reduce its carbon footprint – while simultaneously reducing its energy costs.

“Our goal is to provide completely carbon-free energy to Rio Tinto at a price below the cost of fossil fuels and without emissions,” said Mr. Gross.

Bringing carbon-free energy to a nearly century-old mine

Heliogen, backed by Gates and biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, exited stealth mode at the end of 2019 announcing a solar breakthrough. For the first time, concentrated solar power could be used to replace fossil fuels used in industrial processes. Last year, Time magazine named Heliogen’s HelioHeat technology to its list of the best inventions of 2020.

Today, Heliogen is partnering with Rio Tinto to harness this technology.

Heliogen's solar technology will be used to power Rio Tinto's borax mine in Boron, California. Located in the Mojave Desert, the mine is the largest of its kind in the world.

Rio Tinto plans to use the Heliogen platform to help power the nearly century-old California site, which extracts borates, a mineral used in fertilizers, from heat-resistant glass for smartphones and computers. laptops, solar panels and wind turbines. The mine, located in Boron, supplies nearly half of the world’s production of refined borates, according to Rio Tinto.

Normally, the facility relies on fossil fuels to generate steam. But the partnership requires Heliogen’s AI-powered mirror field to generate 35,000 pounds per hour of carbon-free steam to help power the site.

The companies said the technology could reduce Boron’s carbon emissions by about 7%, which is equivalent to taking more than 5,000 cars off the road. And the Heliogen system will also capture and store clean energy to power nighttime mine operations.

If this initial installation of Heliogen is successful, Rio Tinto could step up the use of the technology to reduce the site’s carbon footprint by up to 24%.

Rio Tinto spends $ 1 billion to reduce its carbon footprint

The companies said they would start planning and obtaining government permits soon. The goal is to launch the Heliogen platform next year – and explore its deployment at other Rio Tinto locations around the world.

The Anglo-Australian multinational hopes Heliogen will help it cut emissions by nearly half by 2030 from 2010 levels. Last year, industrial heat, supplied by Heliogen, accounted for 14% of direct emissions. and indirect from Rio Tinto, called Scope 1 and 2.

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“This partnership with Heliogen has the potential to significantly reduce our emissions at Boron using this revolutionary solar technology, and we look forward to exploring the opportunities in our global portfolio,” said Jakob Stausholm, CEO of Rio Tinto, in a statement. .

Rio Tinto has pledged to spend around $ 1 billion on emission reduction programs through 2025. The Heliogen partnership represents a multi-million dollar investment from Rio Tinto, Gross said, although the exact cost isn’t has not yet been determined.

Rio Tinto is also hoping to repair its reputation after the company destroyed a sacred indigenous site in Australia last year. The destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge caves in Western Australia led to the resignation of former CEO Jean-Sébastien Jacques, who nevertheless secured a huge payment for 2020.
Los Angeles-based Heliogen harnesses the power of the sun to create the extreme heat required for mining, steel, cement, and other industrial processes. The solar panel shown is not from the Rio Tinto mine, which has yet to launch the Heliogen platform.

Using AI to fight the climate crisis

Concentrated solar power is nothing new.

This use of mirrors to reflect the sun at a single point has been used previously to generate electricity and to create heat for industry. In Oman, it is used to create carbon-free energy used to drill for oil.

But Heliogen says he’s going one step further by using AI and other sophisticated technology to align thousands of mirrors on a single point, creating temperatures much warmer than was possible in the past.

Now Heliogen must convince industrial companies like Rio Tinto to ditch fossil fuels for the sun.

“Heliogen is bombarded with customers all over the world,” Gross said, “from all industries ranging from metals, to cement, to utilities, to hydrogen production.”

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