Solar Foods facts for kids

Solar Foods is a Finnish company that makes a special kind of protein. This protein is called single cell protein, and it can be used as a meat substitute. The company started in 2017. Their main goal is to create food using solar energy and air.

How Solar Foods Started

Early Days (2017-2019)

Solar Foods began as a new company from a big research project. This project was about renewable energy. It involved two universities in Finland: VTT and LUT University. The idea of making food from air using electricity has been around since the 1960s.

In 2017, the research team announced they had successfully made food from air. Soon after, the company was founded by six engineering experts. Their goal was to start making 100 tons of protein each year by 2021.

By 2018, Solar Foods had raised money to build a small test factory. They also received a loan from Business Finland. They started building a large tank called a bioreactor. This tank could produce one kilogram of microbes every day. Before this, their bioreactor was only the size of a coffee cup!

Solar Foods also joined the European Space Agency business program. They wanted to create a system to make food for astronauts on Mars. A 40-liter bioreactor could make enough protein for a crew of six.

In 2019, Solar Foods opened its first test factory. This factory helped them create new food products with other companies. They also planned an even bigger factory to produce about 6,000 tons of protein per year. The Fazer Group, a well-known food company, became a partner with Solar Foods.

Growing Bigger (2020-Present)

By April 2020, Solar Foods had received a lot of funding. Their test factory was making 300 grams of protein daily. They planned to open a much larger factory, about 100 times bigger, in a few years. This next factory would be as large as a football field.

In April 2021, the Valtion Ilmastorahasto gave Solar Foods a loan of ten million euros for their new factory. By October, the company had collected 43 million euros in total funding. They started building "Factory 01" in Vantaa, Finland. This factory was designed to produce about one hundred tons of Solein protein each year.

In 2022, Solar Foods was a finalist in NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge. They also continued working with the European Space Agency. In October, Solar Foods received the first special permit to sell their product in Singapore. They were also working to get permits in the EU, the UK, and the United States. The company built its first commercial factory in Vantaa. This factory has a large bioreactor, 8 metres (26 ft) wide, for growing the protein.

In January 2023, Solar Foods received more funding for its hydrogen project. By summer 2023, the company started selling its products to people in Singapore. Singapore imports most of its food, so new food sources are very important there. Solar Foods also began working with the Japanese company Ajinomoto. In September, they announced a project to make artificial milk protein using carbon dioxide and electricity.

In 2024, Solar Foods Oyj listed its shares on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Finland. They also won the Phase 3 of NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge.

Solein: The Food from Air

Solein is the special protein powder made by Solar Foods. It looks and tastes like wheat flour. It has a lot of protein (about 50%), some fat (5–10%), and carbohydrates (20–25%). Production of Solein started in 2024.

How Solein is Made

Solein is made by taking carbon dioxide (CO
2) from the air. This is done using a process called Direct air capture. Then, it's mixed with hydrogen, which comes from water using electricity. Mineral nutrients and vitamins are also added.

A special type of bacteria, called Xanthobacter sp., uses these ingredients to grow. These bacteria can turn simple things like carbon dioxide and hydrogen into complex things like amino acids and proteins. The whole process needs electricity. Solar Foods uses solar energy from its partner, Fortum, to power this process.

Solar Foods says Solein is "highly functional." This means it can be used in many different foods. It has been tested in meat alternatives, noodles, and even ice cream.

Research on Solein

The bacteria used to make Solein were first found in the mud of the Archipelago Sea in Finland.

Scientists have studied Solein to make sure it is safe. A 2024 study, partly written by Solar Foods employees, found that heat-treated Solein is safe to eat.

What Solein Could Change

Some people believe Solein could completely change how we produce food. For example, George Monbiot said it could be 20,000 times more efficient than traditional farming. This means it could produce much more food using less space.

However, others, like Michael Le Page from the New Scientist, point out that this huge efficiency only applies to the factories themselves. If you include the land needed for solar panels to power the factories, the improvement in land use is about 10 times better. Even with these questions, many agree that this technology has huge potential and is worth investing in.

See also

• Fermentative hydrogen production