Renewable Energy & Sustainability Heroes by GineersNow Engineering GineersNow Engineering Magazine Issue No. 017, Ren | Page 20

World’s Largest
Artificial Sun to
Empower Solar
Fuel Research
It has been switched
on first the first time!
he sun has finally risen in Juelich in
Germany. No, it is not the sun that is the
center of the solar system, but the world’s
largest artificial sun that shone brightly for
the first time.
Scientists in Germany have finally turned
on ‘Synlight’, which is composed of
149 powerful xenon short-arc lamps in
a honeycomb setup. It has light that is
10,000 times the intensity of the solar
radiation at the Earth’s surface, with
temperatures at the target point of the
lamps in an 8×8 spot reaching 3000°C.
It has been tested out at the German
Aerospace Center (DLR). Synlight
has become the world’s biggest solar
simulator.
According to the scientists, its main goal
is to improve the production processes for
solar fuels, including hydrogen, which is
considered as one of the most important
renewable energy sources in the future – it
burns without producing carbon dioxide.
Hydrogen is the most common element in
the universe but it is rare on Earth.
The extreme temperatures in this artificial
sun is hoped to speed up the technology
in manufacturing solar fuels.
Once the technology is developed with the
simulator, the German scientists will turn
to the solar system’s sun to harness its
energy.
And because it is an artificial sun for now,
the rotation of the Earth is not a hindrance
and so are the weather conditions.
Johannes Remmel, a German environment
minister, believe that this technology is
an essential move in achieving renewable
energy targets.
He said, “The energy transition will falter
without investments in innovative research,
in state-of-the-art technologies and in
global lighthouse projects like Synlight.”