Plant DAWN

Synhelion’s Plant DAWN is the world’s first industrial-scale solar fuel production facility, located in Brainergy Park Jülich, Germany, that uses concentrated solar heat and thermochemical processes to convert sunlight, water, and carbon feedstocks into renewable synthetic fuels including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), solar diesel, and solar gasoline. Operational since late summer 2024 after being inaugurated in June 2024, DAWN has quickly ramped up production and is operating close to its design capacity, providing valuable operational experience to de-risk and validate Synhelion’s “Sun-to-Liquid” technology for commercial scaling. The plant is financed by Synhelion with additional support of EUR 3.92 million from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) and has delivered fuel to Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and other key customers, with applications across real-world transportation sectors demonstrating feasibility and technology readiness. A key milestone occurred in July 2025 when Synhelion delivered its first barrel of synthetic crude from DAWN to a refinery in northern Germany, which was processed into certified Jet-A-1 SAF and integrated into SWISS’s flight operations, the first time solar fuel has been used in civil aviation. The project timeline includes construction start in September 2022, inauguration in June 2024, fuel production beginning in late summer 2024, and continued operational breakthroughs through 2025, with plans to enable broader commercial deployment and scale-up in subsequent years.