Feed Water Pre-Heat
The simplest approach to integrating solar heat into a thermal EOR project is to use the GlassPoint solar array to pre-heat feed-water for conventional gas-fired steam generators. This reduces gas consumption by up to 10% with minimum disruption to existing surface facilities.
Although hot water is only produced when the sun is shining, it is relatively easy to store in an insulated tank. This means solar heated water can be supplied to steam generators even when it is dark.