GlassPoint, the leader in decarbonizing industrial process heat, unveiled the next phase of development for the GlassPoint Ma’aden Technology Showcase (GMTS) in partnership with the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA).
In addition, GlassPoint has partnered with Cox as its technical and delivery partner to build the GMTS, as well as several additional solar thermal projects globally. The GMTS is the first stage in building the world’s largest industrial solar thermal project, Ma’aden I, a $1.5B project which will combine direct solar to heat technology with advanced thermal storage to accelerate the decarbonizing of Ma’aden’s aluminum supply chain.
To support these projects for Ma’aden and to export high technology renewable energy components to the region, Glasspoint and MISA will be constructing a state-of-the-art solar manufacturing facility in the Kingdom.
H. E. Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi Minister of Investment, stated: “We are pleased to move forward with this important project with GlassPoint. This milestone advances us toward building a cutting-edge concentrated solar power-to-steam manufacturing facility in the Kingdom, which will build our leadership across the region while strengthening our economy and creating an independent supply chain.”
Bob Wilt, CEO of Ma’aden, stated: “Our Technology Showcase with GlassPoint is an important step toward large-scale decarbonization and is strongly in support of meeting the Kingdom’s net zero target by 2060. We are constantly looking at how we can drive operations and integrate technology that delivers more efficiently and more sustainably.”
Rod MacGregor, CEO of GlassPoint, stated: “We are proud to partner with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to develop not only the largest industrial solar thermal project in history, but also a pioneering technology showcase and solar manufacturing facility. Decarbonizing industrial heat is essential to manufacture low-carbon materials and meet net-zero commitments, representing a $444B market globally. Together with MISA, Ma’aden and Cox we are on our way to scale our proven solution to meet the scale of the opportunity.”
Enrique Riquelme, Executive Chairman at Cox, stated: “We are seeing rising demand for decarbonized heat around the world as industrial facilities seek to cost-effectively meet net-zero goals. GlassPoint stands out as offering the only solution proven at scale to reduce carbon emissions while delivering favorable economics. We look forward to working with them on this lighthouse project with MISA, as well as many more in our shared pipeline.”
The GMTS will feature several advanced technology developments from GlassPoint that enable industrial facilities to decarbonize heat by up to 70% while delivering cost parity with legacy gas-powered steam systems. Breakthroughs in anticlastic polymer membranes, high-performance Niobium mirrors, and ternary liquid salt have enabled the company to reduce parts count by 60% and weight by 75%. Together these enhancements, built on previous technology improvements revealed last year, have reduced the cost of the solar field by 30% and the cost of the thermal storage subsystem by 50%.
GlassPoint provides direct solar-to-heat technology that generates industrial process heat from sunshine without going through electricity as an intermediate step. The GMTS will use reflective mirrors inside a glasshouse to focus sunlight onto a pipe carrying liquid salt to capture energy from the sun. GlassPoint’s Unify storage system uses ternary liquid salts to provide a continuous base load of heat to Ma’aden’s refinery at Ras al Khair, which refines bauxite ore into alumina, a core ingredient for aluminum production. The solution will provide for complete optionality, enabling Ma’aden to complement solar steam with gas, biomass, electricity, hydrogen or any other fuel as those technologies mature.
The GMTS will provide 1% of the steam required by Ma’aden’s bauxite refinery at Ras Al Khair; when complete, the entire project will provide 65% of the steam and reduce carbon emissions by 600,000 tons per year, the equivalent of taking nearly 130,000 cars off the road. The project supports MISA’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative to diversify supply chains, as well as the Kingdom’s Saudi Vision 2030 plan to strengthen the economy and the Saudi Green Initiative to accelerate the Kingdom’s environmental leadership.
GlassPoint’s factory in Saudi Arabia will create over 200 green factory jobs in the Kingdom, and export renewable energy components to the GCC, North Africa and Southern Europe, helping the Kingdom expand its non oil & gas economy.
Application of GlassPoint’s technology at Ma’aden and beyond helps decarbonize the Saudi industrial base, reduce domestic gas consumption and decrease the carbon footprint of hard-to-abate industries.
