As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, GlassPoint Solar recently organised a tree planting initiative for its employees in commemoration of Earth Day, the world’s largest environmental movement. GlassPoint volunteers gathered in Shatti Al Qurum where they planted 50 seedlings as part of GlassPoint’s Earth Day pledge to combat climate change and conserve natural resources.
The initiative was held in conjunction with the Earth Day Network’s ‘Trees for the Earth’ project, which aims to plant 7.8 billion trees by 2020, one for every human being on the planet. The campaign was launched to reverse the major loss of forestry over the years, with the earth losing an estimated 18 billion trees annually due to deforestation, land development, and bad forest management.
GlassPoint is committed to creating long term value for Oman that extends well beyond its solar oil field projects. Earlier this year, the company teamed with local CSR and sustainability experts Sustainable Square Oman to establish its social investment strategy and launch new programmes and activities that best serve the Sultanate and the Omani people.
GlassPoint is the leading provider of solar steam generators to the oil and gas industry for applications such as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Oil operators worldwide deploy EOR to boost well productivity by up to 300 per cent. By replacing gas-fired steam generation with solar, GlassPoint can reduce EOR gas consumption by up to 80 per cent. The gas saved can be exported or redirected to higher value uses such as industrial development and power generation. GlassPoint’s projects operate in global markets ranging from the Middle East to California.
Unlike solar panels that generate electricity, GlassPoint’s enclosed trough technology uses large, curved mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a boiler tube containing water. The concentrated energy boils the water to produce high-pressured steam, which is injected into an oil reservoir to heat heavy oil and boost production. GlassPoint encloses the system inside a glasshouse structure to protect the solar collectors from the wind, sand and dust common in Middle Eastern oilfields. An automated washing system cleans the glasshouse to maintain performance in the dusty desert environment and reduce operation and maintenance costs.