Up to 1000 ℃! The mysterious company invested by Bill Gates achieves a new breakthrough in photovoltaic heating

Microsoft founder Bill A mysterious energy company supported by Gates has made significant technological breakthroughs in the utilization of solar energy. According to CNN, the clean energy company called "Heliocgen" has discovered a way to use artificial intelligence and mirror arrays to reflect a large amount of sunlight, thereby generating high temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius. Essentially, it is equivalent to making a solar ultra-high temperature oven with a temperature about 1/4 of the surface temperature of the sun!

This breakthrough means that for the first time, humans have utilized concentrated solar energy to achieve such high temperatures that can be used to manufacture industrial processes such as cement, steel, and glass. In other words, in industrial production areas with severe carbon emissions that have not been touched by the clean energy revolution, sunlight will be able to replace fossil fuels.

Heliogen founder and CEO Bill Gross said in an interview with CNN, "We are promoting this new technology that can outperform fossil fuels in price without producing carbon dioxide. This is the real energy revolution and the killer of reducing carbon dioxide

Utilizing artificial intelligence to achieve extreme high temperatures

Unlike traditional rooftop solar power generation, Heliogen is improving the so-called centralized solar power generation. The technique of using mirrors to reflect sunlight to a point is not new. Concentrated solar energy has been used in the past to generate electricity and, to some extent, to provide industrial heating. Oman even uses it to provide the power needed for drilling oil. But the temperature of the concentrated solar energy obtained in this way is not enough to produce cement and steel.

Unlike other concentrated solar companies' solutions, Heliogen and its team of scientists and engineers have turned to artificial intelligence. They use computer vision software, automatic edge detection, and other complex techniques to "train" a mirror field to reflect sunlight onto a point. It is reported that if thousands of mirrors reflect sunlight onto a single point, extreme high temperatures can be achieved.

After achieving the above breakthroughs, the company's next step will be to focus on proving that the technology can be applied on a large scale, such as manufacturing cement. They are trying to expand the company's technological application scope, so that it can provide power for facilities producing steel and cement, and even power airplanes and trucks. However, CNN stated that the biggest challenge for this company is how to persuade traditional industrial enterprises to invest in the application of this new achievement.

Returning to the position of the world's richest man, Bill Gates expressed optimism about this investment

Bill Gates said in a statement, "I am delighted to be an early investor in Bill Gross' new solar startup. People are looking forward to finding an alternative energy source to fossil fuels one day, and it is clear that Heliogen's photovoltaic heating is a very meaningful innovation

Recently, thanks to the rise in Microsoft stock, Bill Gates has surpassed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and returned to the position of the world's richest man.

Billionaire Huang Xinxiang, owner of the Los Angeles Times and one of Heliogen's investors, as a member of the company's board of directors, said, "I believe this patented technology will significantly reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Taking the cement industry as an example, according to the International Energy Agency, cement production accounts for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions. What if solar heating is used to produce cement? The reduced carbon dioxide emissions will slow down the intensification of the greenhouse effect. Bill Gross and his team are really amazing, they have truly utilized solar energy. The potential of humanity is enormous, and the commercial value of this innovation is immeasurable.

Heliogen also stated that the company's photovoltaic heating technology has great potential for large-scale hydrogen production, and carbon free liquid hydrogen can be directly used as fuel for trucks and airplanes. "If we can use this technology to produce carbon free hydrogen, it will completely change the game rules of the energy industry. In the long run, we hope to become a green hydrogen energy company.

Challenge: How to persuade industrial giants that use fossil fuels

At present, Heliogen mainly focuses on solar energy, but there is a problem with solar energy that the light exposure time is limited, while large industries like cement manufacturers have a constant demand for thermal energy. How to resolve this contradiction? Energy storage systems have become the best choice. Fortunately, energy storage technology can now be integrated, and Heliogen is now considering how to demonstrate the large-scale application of this technology.

We are racing against time to expand our scale, the faster the better

If the large-scale application goes smoothly, the next step is to prepare for listing, which requires more capital to expand the scale. Investor Huang Xinxiang stated that he plans to invest more funds in Heliogen, but he refused to disclose how much funding the startup has raised so far.

The biggest challenge for Heliogen will be convincing industrial companies that use fossil fuels to invest in the conversion (photovoltaic heating) required. Gross said that the company has been privately negotiating with potential clients and plans to announce its first batch of customers soon. The biggest selling point of photovoltaic heating is that, unlike fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, sunlight is free. If we go to a cement company and tell them that we provide you with green energy that doesn't emit carbon dioxide and saves you money, then only fools would refuse. Plus, we have adopted the latest artificial intelligence, and I believe this technology has enough competitiveness to attract those industrial giants