Here Comes Concentrating Solar Power For Your Industrial Heat

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There they go again. Despite the train wreck that passes for US energy policy nowadays, domestic innovators in the solar power field just keep insisting upon themselves. Take, for example, the US solar thermal manufacturer GlassPoint. The startup has just raised $20 million in a funding round spearheaded by the Liechtenstein firm N.I.S. New Solutions, with its eye on global markets as well as here at home.

The Concentrating Solar Power Factor

GlassPoint surfaced on the CleanTechnica radar last June, when the company announced a 750-megawatt solar thermal project aimed at cutting coal out of the energy profile of the industrial materials producer Searles Valley Minerals.

“The project will provide superior unit economics to existing coal-based operations and ensure competitive domestic supply chains for strategic minerals, while paving the way forward for replacing two coal-fired power plants,” GlassPoint stated, emphasizing its role in pulling the rug out from under domestic coal producers.

If you’re thinking that a form of concentrating solar power technology is in play, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. Unlike the now-familiar solar panels that convert light to electricity, CSP systems harvest heat from the sun. Some systems concentrate sunlight with specialized mirrors called heliostats. Others deploy trough-shaped structures. GlassPoint falls into the latter category.

“The company’s advanced Enclosed Trough technology will use reflective mirrors inside greenhouses to focus sunlight onto a pipe carrying liquid salt, capturing energy from the sun for use in boiler operations as well as onsite power,” the company explains.

“GlassPoint will also deploy its Unify storage system, which uses ternary liquid salts to store heat at night and enable a continuous base load of heat and power night and day,” they add.

Next Steps For Concentrating Solar Power

Advocates for concentrating solar power have had a tough time making their case here in the US. During the tenure of former US President Barack Obama, the Energy Department showcased a group of CSP projects in the Southwest. There has been little followup in terms of commercial applications, though R&D efforts in the CSP field continue.

GlassPoint aims higher. In a press statement announcing the new round of funding, the company targeted the US Southwest for action, along with the southern regions of Europe, the Middle East and South America.

That’s quite a mouthful, but from GlassPoint’s perspective, it’s all low hanging fruit.

“More energy is used globally in the form of industrial process heat (26%) than all forms of electricity combined (20%),” GlassPoint explains, citing data from the International Energy Agency.

“Unlike electricity, industrial process heat is notoriously difficult to decarbonize, primarily due to the low cost of burning fossil fuels to generate heat,” the company adds, by way of explaining why its target market consists of regions where the conditions for solar power are optimal.

In particular, that thing about the Middle East is … interesting! China has been lobbying for the renewable energy transition in the Gulf states, aiming to export its technology to support the growth of an industrial economy in the region. As described by one analyst, China has the edge on energy storage technology. GlassPoint could provide its industrial heat technology as a complement — or competition, as the case may be.

GlassPoint has a running start on the Middle East. It already has a 1.5 gigawatt-hour project underway in Saudi Arabia, supporting the decarbonization of a bauxite refinery.

The company points out that it also has a nine-year track record of providing solar-generated steam for an enhanced oil recovery project in Oman. That’s somewhat meh in terms of climate action, though it does replace the function of natural gas in the operation.

Follow The Money

Although US President Trump swept into office on a mission to throttle down activity in the domestic wind and solar industries, the smart money is on wind and solar, especially solar. So far, much of the solar love has been showered on electricity generation. However, with the cost of solar power falling practically by the minute, decarbonizing heat also offers many opportunities to make bank.

“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,“ enthused N.I.S. founder Takashi Sato in a press statement.

“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,” Sato added.

Meanwhile, Here In The USA

The US solar industry has suffered a substantial setback as a result of the current federal energy policy, but down does not mean out. GlassPoint is among the industry stakeholders banking on the unstoppable demand for energy produced at the lowest possible cost, with saving the planet from a global warming catastrophe being an added benefit.

The bottom line looms large in the US, as it does elsewhere around the world. “With the new funding, GlassPoint is expanding its Technology Center in Stuttgart, Germany, with leading technologists and engineers. The company is also hiring business development, engineering, and finance talent in Dubai and the United States,” GlassPoint says of its plans for future development.

In another sign of life here in Trump-world, the leading US thin film manufacturer First Solar officially started operations at its newest US factory last November, in Louisiana. Also in November, First Solar announced plans to launch another new factory in South Carolina.

As for the US solar industry writ large, Ken Bossong of the Sun Day Campaign has the latest scoop. Bossong has been summarizing federal energy data reports since the 1990s, and here is what he had to say on January 27:

“A review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that virtually all net new generating capacity in 2026 is forecast to be provided by solar, wind, and batteries — significantly expanding on the strong growth they have already experienced through November 2025,” Bossong wrote.

Photo: The US concentrating solar power startup GlassPoint has its sights set on ripe solar markets in the US Southwest as well as southern Europe, the Middle East, and South America (screenshot, courtesy of GlassPoint).