Joule, provider of direct, solar conversion of carbon into liquid fuels has entered into an agreement with Scatec Solar to support the roll-out of Joule production plants featuring PV power.
The exclusive, reverse-combustion process of Joule reduces overall carbon footprint by using solar energy to convert waste carbon directly into carbon-neutral fuels and by closing the carbon cycle, Joule’s fuels enable a sustainable form of combustion.
The use of PV power for plant operations is expected to further reduce carbon footprint, catching more than a 90percent improvement over conventional fuel production.
According to the agreement, Scatec Solar will be the supplier and operator of PV power installations for Joule plants, with an initial deployment goal of up to 25,000 acres and a power requirement of 2 GW, which will generate up to 625 million gallons of ethanol, while consuming about 4 million tons of industrial waste CO2 annually in the process.
This is an opportunity to produce transportation fuels with the carbon footprint, using solar energy as a feedstock and a power source. This relationship exemplifies the approach to build an ecosystem of like-minded partners with complementary expertise, which in turn will fast-track the availability of CO2-neutral fuels to a planet in urgent need of scalable solutions, said, Paul Snaith, president, CEO, Joule.
This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to merge the strengths of solar power and solar fuel, and it is exciting to be among the first international supporters of this groundbreaking industry-changing production platform, said, Raymond Carlsen, CEO, Scatec Solar.
The technology by Joule derives fuels directly from sunlight and waste CO2. Their engineered catalysts produce ethanol or hydrocarbons for diesel, gasoline and jet fuel in a continuous process.
Moreover, the combination of Joule’s optimized catalysts and system efficiencies is designed to result in highly-competitive costs and land productivities up to 100X those of biomass-based approaches.
The company is now scaling its process for Joule Sunflow-E (sustainable ethanol) at its demonstration plant in Hobbs, New Mexico.