Eberhard Bau AG operates first excavator with solar diesel from Synhelion

(CONNECT) Synhelion has now demonstrated the suitability of its renewable fuel for use in heavy construction machinery. The cleantech company has refueled an excavator belonging to Eberhard Bau AG from Kloten with its synthetic solar diesel at the Brütten tunnel construction site near Bassersdorf.

"Our employees work with heavy construction machinery under demanding conditions," said Logistics Manager Silvan Eberhard in a Synhelion press release. "It is crucial that performance and reliability are right. This first use of Synhelion's diesel shows that renewable fuels also work smoothly in everyday construction site operations." Synhelion's renewable diesel delivers the same performance as conventional diesel and reduces net CO2 emissions by up to 100 percent. It can be used in existing engines without technical modifications.

Heavy construction site equipment is difficult to electrify, which is why machines in the construction and infrastructure sectors "will continue to rely on liquid fuels for a long time to come", says Synhelion co-founder and co-CEO Philipp Furler. "To make a real contribution to net zero emissions, it is now crucial that we scale up our technology to reduce production costs."

The diesel for this excavator comes from DAWN, the world's first industrial plant for the production of Synhelion's solar fuel at the German research center in Jülich. All innovations from the company, which was founded in 2016 as a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, are integrated there. With this demonstration plant, which will go into operation in 2024, Synhelion has validated its technology on an industrial scale and thus demonstrated its readiness for large-scale use. RISE, Synhelion's first commercial production plant, has been under construction in Spain since 2025 and is set to produce fuel from 2027.

Synhelion already concluded a long-term purchase agreement with Eberhard Bau AG in February 2026. From 2027, Eberhard will purchase renewable diesel to reduce the CO2 emissions of its construction machinery. Synhelion has already demonstrated the usability of renewable kerosene, diesel and gasoline in air, sea and road transportation. ce/mm