GlassPoint Solar, the leading supplier of solar to the oil and gas industry, has announced the appointment of energy veteran Sanjeev Kumar as senior vice president of project development in North America. Kumar will lead the growth and financing initiatives for GlassPoint and its California projects. GlassPoint has developed a novel solar thermal technology for oilfields, which produce steam at a lower cost than steam made from natural gas.

“I was attracted to GlassPoint for the opportunity to bring solar to the oil and gas industry, a massive untapped market for deploying renewables globally. By providing a cost-effective solar solution to the oil and gas industry, GlassPoint has achieved rapid success, generating revenue and significant backlog in a short amount of time,” said Kumar.

“GlassPoint has developed proven technology that reduces a producers’ operating costs and also delivers substantial carbon savings. Even in today’s low oil price environment, GlassPoint has proved that using solar at the oilfield is a viable solution to meet the world’s growing energy demand economically and responsibly,” he added.

Kumar joins GlassPoint with 20 years of experience in the global energy markets, including oil and gas and renewables. Previously, Kumar helped take TerraForm Power public as CFO in a highly successful IPO in 2014. Prior to Terraform, he served as CFO of Enphase Energy, where he facilitated the company’s rapid growth and helped take the company public. He has held several other leadership positions with dynamic privately and publicly held companies.

Kumar spent 10 years in the oil and gas industry with Occidental Petroleum Corporation, one of the United State’s largest oil and gas companies with operations globally. He took on increasing responsibilities and as assistant treasurer raised significant funding during a very low oil and gas price environment.

In his new role, Kumar will accelerate GlassPoint’s growth in North America, including overseeing fund raising activities. He will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Fremont, California.

“Sanjeev has significant experience in both oil and gas and renewables, where he’s successfully taken two solar companies public. His understanding of both worlds will be instrumental in developing GlassPoint’s solar oilfield projects in California and beyond,” said GlassPoint CEO Rod MacGregor, “We’re thrilled to have Sanjeev join us at a time when oil and solar are converging.”

GlassPoint’s technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight and turn thousands of tons of oilfield water into steam per day for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The solar steam is used to heat and extract heavy oil, replacing large volumes of natural gas typically burned for steam generation. As 70 per cent of today’s remaining reserves are heavy oil, the market for solar powered oil production is expanding.

GlassPoint and its partner Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) broke ground last November on Miraah, a 1,021 MW solar thermal project on PDO’s Amal oilfield in south Oman. Once complete, Miraah will be among the world’s largest solar plants of any kind.

GlassPoint’s major shareholders include Royal Dutch Shell and the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF), the largest sovereign wealth fund in the Sultanate of Oman.