Heliogen Inc. A leading provider of concentrating solar energy technology, today announced the conclusion of Capella, a first-of-a-kind demonstration project. Jointly funded by Woodside Energy (USA) Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Woodside Energy Group Ltd (NYSE: WDS; ASX: WDS) (“Woodside”), and the U.S. Department of Energy, the project aimed to advance Heliogen’s novel form of concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, often referred to as “Generation 3” or “Gen 3.”
The Capella project focused on advancing key technological innovations towards the deployment of a 5-MWe concentrated solar power plant. Following the completion of the front-end engineering and design phase, Heliogen and Woodside have mutually decided not to proceed with the construction of the project at this time due to cost escalation factors. Both parties remain committed to exploring future collaboration opportunities in deploying CSP technology.
“The Capella project achieved several first-ever milestones in prototyping and design, unlocking key learnings critical to improving the techno-economics for Gen 3 CSP,” said Christie Obiaya, CEO of Heliogen. “We are deeply appreciative of the exceptional collaboration from Woodside.”
Obiaya continued, “Our core focus now is on the significant and growing demand for dispatchable, reliable low-carbon energy solutions, particularly driven by the rapidly expanding data center market. We are well-positioned to meet these needs through the deployment of our proven Gen 2 CSP technology, which is already commercially deployed at scale and offers a compelling value proposition in terms of cost and timeline compared to many other low-carbon energy alternatives.”
Gen 3 CSP technology aims to generate higher temperatures than traditional concentrated solar power. In contrast, Gen 2 CSP, a mature and proven technology successfully operating globally, provides dispatchable thermal energy at a reduced cost and timeline compared to many other low-carbon energy alternatives.
“Through the collaboration between Woodside and Heliogen on Project Capella, we have demonstrated significant advances across a number of key work scopes. We thank the Heliogen team for its innovation and technical expertise on the project,” said Jason Crusan, Vice President of Energy Solutions, Woodside Energy.
