GlassPoint announced that it has raised $20 million in a funding round led by N.I.S. New Investment Solutions, with participation from returning investor MIG Capital, as the cleantech company looks to advance large-scale solar industrial heat projects in the US and beyond.
Industrial heating uses high amounts of energy, often from fossil fuel-based sources, in order to transform materials into products such as metals and plastics, and is particularly difficult to decarbonize, given the low cost of burning fossil fuels.
Founded in 2009, New York-based GlassPoint develops solar technology designed to produce industrial process heat at scale. The company’s “enclosed trough” system utilizes large curved mirrors suspended inside an agricultural glasshouse, which automatically track the sun throughout the day, focusing sunlight on a stationary boiler tube containing water, heating the water to efficiently produce high-pressure steam.
According to the company, enclosed trough systems typically occupy one sixth the space of photovoltaic panels that produce the same amount of energy, making it ideal for industrial-scale applications. The system can also provide industrial heat at night, by using sunlight during the day to heat tanks of molten salt.
According to GlassPoint, more than half of global industrial activity is located in regions with sufficient solar resources, which the company said allows it to deploy its industrial heat technology at scale using solar collection and thermal storage systems.
Rod MacGregor, CEO at GlassPoint, said:
“GlassPoint provides industry leaders with a proven solution to deliver industrial process heat at the lowest cost. With this latest round of financing, we will expand into several new global markets where GlassPoint’s technology delivers compelling value.”
The new capital raised will support the development of ongoing projects, including a partnership with Searles Valley Minerals in California to deploy 750 MW thermal of solar technology as part of efforts to reduce costs and begin decommissioning the state’s remaining coal-fired plants. GlassPoint is also continuing work on a 1.5 GW thermal project with Ma’aden to decarbonize a bauxite refinery in Saudi Arabia, as well as expanding deployments in regions including Southern Europe and South America.
GlassPoint’s existing projects also include a 330 MW thermal installation in Oman that has supplied daily steam since 2017.
Alongside project development, GlassPoint plans to expand its technology center in Germany, and hire staff across engineering, business development, and finance roles in Dubai and the US.
Takashi Sato, Founder of N.I.S., said:
“In many parts of the world, solar energy is now the lowest cost source of industrial power, creating an opportunity to simultaneously reduce operating costs and emissions. GlassPoint is a proven solution for this moment and has already won the confidence of some of the most discerning industrial organizations in the world, from oil and gas leaders to mining titans.”
