Heliogen, Inc. and NantG Power, LLC announced an engineering services agreement to leverage Heliogen's core intellectual property to develop a pilot solar thermal calcination facility. Under the agreement, Heliogen, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Heliogen Holdings, Inc., will provide front-end concept design services and research and development ("R&D") engineering services, paving the way for NantG Power to purchase a commercial-scale calcination facility. The scope of this initial contract includes field testing at Heliogen's demonstration-scale facility in Lancaster, CA, the development of a technoeconomic model for a future commercial facility, and preliminary engineering services for a new pilot calcination facility.

This initial work will serve as a basis for the future deployment of commercial-scale calcination facilities. NantG Power expects the impact of such process improvements to be transformational in the battery materials supply chain, enabling the company to produce anode and cathode active materials close to domestic mining sites. Moreover, the collaboration is expected to limit the infrastructure upgrades needed, including electrical power generation and transmission, while avoiding shipping of unrefined feedstock materials across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, resulting in a more environmentally friendly supply chain for calcination.

As part of the agreement, which was executed in March, Heliogen will be compensated by NantG on a time and materials basis.