Petroleum Development Oman

Crown Prince Naruhito Visits Renesas Technology Corp

The year 2013 marked a new era for sustainable energy and cleantech. Innovative sustainable technologies have started to mature and are getting closer to mainstream acceptance. Growing pains are over for many of these technologies and they can now simultaneously reduce cost and the energy intensity of products and production processes, while also improving the… Keep reading →

GlassPoint Oman

A GlassPoint project in Oman that uses solar energy to get more oil out of the ground has come online on schedule and on budget, brightening the outlook for the technology’s broader use in the Middle East. Oman’s state-controlled oil company, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), awarded GlassPoint a contract to build a seven megawatt (MW)… Keep reading →


Rising demand for energy efficiency solutions abroad may offer new, and expanding, opportunities for US renewable energy firms.

Omani state-owned oil firm Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has awarded California-based GlassPoint a contract to build a pilot 7MW solar enhanced oil recovery (EOR) system at a an existing thermal EOR project in southern Oman. Keep reading →


The popular image of oil derricks place them in sunny locales, in deserts and at sea. But with the search for new oil reserves spreading, the ability to use solar power for enhanced oil recovery faces some elemental challenges.

Southern California, where GlassPoint Solar operates a facility, satisfies the two main requirements for solar thermal enhanced oil recovery –abundant sunlight and heavy oil. But these requirements limit the technology’s application in other areas of the country. Within the US, GlassPoint CEO Rod MacGregor mentioned only West Texas as prospective for solar thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) use. Keep reading →


Using solar-powered facilities in enhanced oil recovery has attracted widespread attention in the industry, and now the sector’s largest firms are moving the technology out of the lab and into the market.

GlassPoint Solar’s successful start-up of the first commercial solar thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) system in California has raised questions about the technology’s prospects for widespread use, both in the US and internationally. Keep reading →