Factory 01 Press Kit

Information and materials about the world’s first factory that grows Solein®, a food out of thin air.

Factory 01, Solar Foods and Solein in brief

Factory 01 – the first of its kind

Solar Foods’ Factory 01 is the world’s first commercial-scale factory that grows food out of thin air. It is a world-first also in other key ways: the first project of EU’s hydrogen IPCEI to reach completion, and the first major demonstration of what cellular agriculture can accomplish.

Cellular agriculture is one of the key scientific leaps of our time, an advancement comparable to AI and quantum computing. It holds the power to help humanity solve major problems in our current food system. It’s not a question of whether cellular agriculture happens, but where it happens first – and Factory 01 is on the forefront of this development, opening a window into the future of food.

Factory 01 represents hope on solving the food crisis. It shows protein can be grown beyond the ways of traditional agriculture: from start to finish under one roof, anywhere in the world – and most importantly, sustainably. It is also a hub for Solar Foods R&D where the company will use the learnings from Factory 01 to take its scientific platform further and formulate the blueprints of industrial-scale Solein production, looking ahead toward Factory 02.

Factory 01 in a nutshell:

Where is it? Located in Vantaa, Finland, Factory 01 is just a 20-minute commuter train ride away from the Finnish capital of Helsinki.
What’s the factory’s output? Solar Foods estimates Factory 01 will produce a maximum of 160 tons of Solein per annum. Assuming a Solein-fortified meal would use 20 grams of the novel protein, that would translate to 8 million meals a year.
What’s the factory’s value? The total investment in Factory 01 is approximately €42 million.

Solein: an entirely new harvest… out of thin air

Factory 01 will grow Solein – but what is it?

Grown out of a natural microbe in a bioprocess that uses carbon dioxide and electricity, Solein production is decoupled from the demands of traditional agriculture. This is why Solein can be called the world’s most sustainable protein: it uses 100 times less water and 20 times less arable land than plant protein production, and creates only a fifth of the carbon emissions of plant protein.

Solein can be produced virtually anywhere: deserts, Arctic regions, even Mars. This is why Solar Foods is also exploring the possibilities of Solein as a space food. In 2023, the company was one of the winners in Phase II of the Deep Space Food Challenge, a competition held by NASA and CSA that seeks innovative solutions to feed astronauts on long space missions.

Read more about Solein

Solar Foods: the company behind it all

Solar Foods is a food tech company founded in Finland in 2017 with a vision: to create sustainable solutions to the global food crisis. Solar Foods’ first product is Solein®, a food grown out of thin air.

Solar Foods received its first novel food approval for Solein in September 2022 in Singapore. In May 2023, Solar Foods and Singaporean restaurant Fico held the world’s first official tasting of Solein. In June, Fico’s Solein Chocolate Gelato was unveiled for ordinary consumers.

With Factory 01 beginning operations, Solar Foods is now ramping up the production of Solein to a commercial scale. However, the company is already planning its next steps so it can fully realise the potential of its technological and scientific platform. Solar Foods has filed for novel food dossier for Solein in other key markets such as the EU and UK and plans to seek GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) status assessment for Solein in the United States. Solar Foods is looking to bring the novel protein to consumers’ plates around the world in the coming years.

Imagining the future: concept art of Factory 01

Before Factory 01 could become a reality, it needed a plan. See the concept art that guided the vision.

See how we envisioned Factory 01

A green label from Nasdaq

In April 2024, Solar Foods became the first privately owned Finnish company to receive the Nasdaq Green Equity Designation.

Read press release

The man running the show

Jouni Ahtinen, our VP of Production, is the person leading Factory 01. Jouni was interviewed one year before the facility’s launch, telling what’s it like to see the blueprints become an actual groundbreaking factory.

Read Jouni’s interview

Factory 01: a part of the new hydrogen economy

The world’s first Solein factory is also a part of Europe’s new hydrogen economy and selected as an IPCEI (Important Project of Common European Interest) by the European Commission.

Read press release

For all our articles, visit our News & Blog page

Browse all articles