Direct Steam Generation
The mirrors in a GlassPoint system track the sun in order to focus sunlight onto a stationary steel pipe carrying regular water. As the water travels along the length of the pipe, it absorbs the heat from the sun. By the time the water reaches the end of the pipe, it has become high-pressure steam. This architecture avoids the need for expensive working fluids and obviates the need for a secondary heat exchanger to generate the steam.
The lowest cost components are the ones that you don’t have to purchase. GlassPoint's approach to direct steam generation eliminates several costly sub systems.
Oil Field Water Quality
The GlassPoint system is designed to operate on exactly the same water quality as a regular oilfield steam generator. Because the pipes are stationary and have constant radius bends, they can be "pigged-out" as part of a routine maintenance program. This is only possible with a stationary receiver design.
In contrast, older solar designs require ultra-pure water to operate, and the only practical way to produce water of that quality is to install an expensive Reverse Osmosis water treatment plant.
Inexpensive Receiver Pipes
GlassPoint receivers operate in a protected environment so there is no need for expensive and fragile evacuated tube receivers. Instead we use simple steel pipes lowering the cost of the system even further.