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GlassPoint is a private company founded in 2009 that designs and manufactures solar steam generators which use solar thermal technology to generate steam for industrial processes.
[[File:GlassPoint Amal EOR Project.jpg|thumb|right|7MW Solar EOR project in Amal, Oman]]
[[File:GlassPoint Amal EOR Steam.jpg|thumb|right|Generating steam for EOR using concentrated solar power]]
GlassPoint's enclosed trough technology encloses lightweight, trough-shaped mirrors with piping in a standard agricultural greenhouse, concentrating the sun's energy to create steam. By using the enclosed trough architecture, GlassPoint claims it can produce emission-free steam for two to three times less than competing concentrated solar power technologies, such as the power tower and linear fresnel. The company is based in New York, New York, with a global presence.
In December 2012, GlassPoint announced $26 million in Series B financing. Investors in the round included Royal Dutch Shell, RockPort Capital, Nth Power and Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital.
In September 2014, GlassPoint announced $53 million in Series C financing. Investors in the round included Royal Dutch Shell, State General Reserve Fund of Oman, RockPort Capital, Nth Power and Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital.
It was announced that GlassPoint was to be liquidated in May 2020, the company citing low and unpredictable oil and gas prices for the decision.
In June 2022, GlassPoint re-emerged under the leadership of the founding CEO, Rod MacGregor, adopting a new build-own-operate business model and unveiling an MOU for one of the largest solar projects in history with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden Group). GlassPoint announced it has moved to a “steam as a service” model to reduce up front risk and expanded its markets to include hard-to-abate industries producing materials essential to the energy transition, including mining, metals, and manufacturing.
The system was completed on time, on budget, and with no lost time or injuries demonstrating GlassPoint and PDO's shared commitment to health, safety, security and the environment (HSSE). During the first 12 months of operations, the actual performance of the GlassPoint system matched output models by a few percent and steam production continues to exceed contracted performance targets. The system recorded 98.6% uptime and maintained regular operations even during severe dust and Dust storm. The automated roof-washing unit proved particularly effective in all weather events, restoring system performance overnight. The project served as a performance and operational baseline for larger steam generators in Oman and provided Petroleum Development Oman with valuable information for planning potential large-scale projects in the future.
In July 2015, Petroleum Development Oman and GlassPoint announced that they had signed an agreement to build a 1 GWth solar field of 1.8 km. The project, named Miraah, was designed to be the world's largest solar field measured by peak thermal capacity.
In August 2017, GlassPoint and its contractors crossed the threshold of 1.5 million man-hours worked without lost time injury (LTI) at Miraah.
In November 2017, GlassPoint and Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) completed construction on the first block of the Miraah solar plant safely on schedule and in line with budget and successfully delivered steam to the Amal West oilfield.
Today, the first 330 MWt at Miraah are operating and meeting all performance targets.
When complete, the 1,500 MWth facility will reduce Ma’aden’s carbon emissions by over 600,000 tons annually, nearly 4% of Ma'aden's overall carbon footprint, bringing the company closer to its mandate of carbon neutrality by 2050.
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