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US-headquartered industrial solar steam company GlassPoint announced on Tuesday a partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Investment (MISA) to build a concentrated solar power-to-steam manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, aimed at supporting the first stage of its solar thermal project for Ma'aden and exporting renewable energy components across the region.
The GlassPoint Ma’aden Technology Showcase (GMTS) represents the initial phase of the $1.5 billion Ma’aden I, billed as the world’s largest industrial solar thermal undertaking, GlassPoint said in a press statement. The project integrates direct solar-to-heat technology and advanced thermal storage to decarbonise Ma’aden's aluminum supply chain.
Additionally, GlassPoint announced that it will partner with Spanish utility firm Cox as its engineering and construction partner to build the GMTS as well as other solar thermal projects globally.
The press statement said GMTS will supply 1 percent of the steam required by Ma’aden’s bauxite refinery at Ras Al Khair. Upon full-scale completion, Ma’aden I will deliver 65 percent of the refinery’s steam needs, reducing carbon emissions by 600,000 tonnes annually—equivalent to removing 130,000 cars from the road—while achieving cost parity with gas-powered systems.
According to the statement, GMTS supports MISA’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, aiming to diversify supply chains while advancing the Saudi Green Initiative. The planned solar manufacturing facility will create over 200 green jobs and export renewable energy components to GCC countries, North Africa, and Southern Europe.
The company also unveiled several innovations that reduce the cost of the solar field by 30 percent and the cost of the thermal storage subsystem by 50 percent including anticlastic polymer membranes, high-performance Niobium mirrors, and ternary liquid salt.
GlassPoint’s solution uses reflective mirrors in a glasshouse to focus sunlight onto pipes carrying liquid salt, which stores and transfers thermal energy.
(Writing by SA Kader; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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