Updated: Aug 3
1. Balancing the Grid
Generation or Storage is required by the grid at all times, indicating that these two functions complement each other.
Grid balance is essential, and machines are used to achieve this. However, if power generation or storage device charging occurs when not needed by the grid, it can be detrimental. This is why neither generation nor storage alone is a perfect solution.
Although Virtual Power Plants offer a beneficial means of digitally stabilising the grid, they pose challenges by creating a disconnect between the intelligent decisions made by digital algorithms and the end users who stand to gain from them.
TWEFDA is developing a hybridly functional energy machine which, at grid scale and with high performance, provides either generation or storage on demand.
This dispatchable energy includes two wave generation applications (5 MW per device), creating a hybrid wave generator, and two gravitational storage applications (2 MWh per device), forming a hybrid gravitational storage solution, all integrated into a single piece of hardware with a unified Power Take Off (PTO).
Think balancing the grid is simple? Then why not give it a try!
2. Decarbonising energy production
During the Basecamp event on 28th February 2023, the Grid within the Smarter Networks Portal identified the issue known as EIP040 – How can we introduce flexibility to distribution networks? This problem is associated with integrating Low Carbon Technologies and the significant electrification of energy consumption.
According to Nick Eyre from the University of Oxford, transitioning to renewables means transitioning to electricity, which improves energy efficiency. This transition could result in up to a 40% reduction in final energy demand, a trend that is rapidly increasing.
Nevertheless, surplus generation when not needed leads to curtailment and insufficient renewable generation results in the burning of fossil fuels, hindering our decarbonisation objectives.
The UK incurred nearly £1bn in curtailment costs in 2023.
Historically, the grid balancing issue was addressed by burning fossil fuels, commonly gas.
Our ambitious goal of achieving net zero globally requires the decarbonisation of energy generation. The dominance of Russian gas supply and the conflict in Ukraine have led to a gas shortage, causing prices to surge worldwide.
TWEFDA has the potential to facilitate the decarbonisation of energy generation.
3. Providing solutions for wave and storage developers
Wave developers face challenges in bringing their products to market due to the need to create an economic model that justifies the substantial investment, manage associated risks, and ensure profitability for project amortisation. TWEFDA Limited conducted a thorough study on this issue.
Storage developers, on the other hand, are hindered by the scarcity of rare metals and the ongoing debate surrounding their mining activities, which influences their interest in adopting new technologies.
After demonstrating their concept in the short term, TWEFDA can incorporate Weight Changing Mechanisms to improve energy generation in other wave developers and expand the portfolio for storage developers by offering their gravitational energy battery solution.
4. Providing alternative solutions to the energy market
Wind power faces challenges due to the necessity of highly specialised equipment and electrochemical storage requiring rare metals, as previously discussed. However, the main issue arises from the need to produce two distinct machines, which is not aligned with the requirements of the National Grid.
The concept introduced by TWEFDA aims to reduce the production of generators, prioritising grid balance over increasing energy output to ensure a stable energy supply, which appears to be the strategy following COP28 (as reported in this publication by IRENA).
5. Lack of legislation for energy storage
Creating a storage system aims to stabilise the Grid. However, constructing a battery requires a significant investment, and its overall energy balance ends up being negative due to its efficiency.
By taking inspiration from nature, it is essential to maintain equilibrium in all our actions. Excessive electricity combined with curtailment guarantees constant lighting, but it also leads to resource wastage. Conversely, insufficient electricity is unacceptable as it can result in a blackout.
Nevertheless, the absence of regulations and a significant demand for them are evident in conventional energy storage projects, as indicated by the construction of the Limmern pumped-storage.
An alternative strategy involves integrating storage as a dual-purpose element of the end product. For example, MIT has developed an innovative sustainable concrete that can store energy, combining construction and renewable energy.
Energy Vault and SOM are proposing the construction of towers ranging from 300 to 1,000 meters in height that are capable of storing green energy.
As reported by Earth.org, the global installation of battery storage saw a decline in 2019, attributed in part to inefficient legislation governing deployment and usage. The IEA notes that the sector lacks transparency and focuses more on technology types rather than capacity and installation considerations, hindering the entry of new systems despite their readiness for deployment.
Our Business Plan delves into the significance of storage. However, despite its necessity, a project solely focused on storage must be financially viable by leveraging the energy price differential. This involves buying energy when it’s abundant at a lower price to store it, and then releasing stored energy back to the grid when energy is scarce at a higher price, with an average of 80% being sold back.
Yet, this business model relying on price differentials often may not warrant the necessary investment.
If the ESWave, which is a machine that is by nature a generator can also serve as a source of energy storage on a large scale, with high flexibility and efficiency, governments worldwide may not have to enact specific legislation regarding storage.
6. The Oil & Gas decarbonisation targets
McKinsey & Company states that for the oil and gas sector to contribute effectively to the necessary efforts in combating climate change, a reduction of at least 3.4 gigatons of carbon-dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) annually by 2050 is imperative. This reduction would signify a 90% decrease from current emission levels, aligning with the urgency felt by 71% of individuals across 18 G20 countries who believe immediate action is crucial within the next decade to lower carbon emissions.
There are few offshore machines that can generate energy on the scale needed by the oil and gas industry for the required durations. A TWEFDA Association can effectively meet the industry’s needs consistently.
7. The offshore industry
For offshore generators, primarily wind and solar, there is typically an export cable that transports the generated power from an offshore substation directly to the shore. Shortening this cable is not only more cost-effective but also reduces the associated risks for the facility. By reducing the length of this cable, we can create an energy bypass in the middle of the ocean, store excess energy to align with Grid demand, and utilise any surplus energy to produce hydrogen or desalinate water.
The offshore industry’s generation, primarily in solar, wind, and wave energy, stands to gain from reducing the length of their export cables. They can also enhance their production by leveraging the import/export functionalities offered by our TWEFDA Hub, utilising their energy for storage, conversion into hydrogen, desalination, or carbon capture, should technology advance in the coming years.
8. Connecting countries (Energy Arbitrage)
We anticipate that our tool will be highly profitable, meaning that each project will have its own financially sustainable plan. What if we were able to establish additional electricity corridors connecting countries such as Denmark and the UK via the North Sea or Sweden and Lithuania via the Baltic Sea?
This approach would not only ensure the success of our projects, but also enable us to establish import/export lines to mitigate resource intermittency by enhancing global grid connectivity, while simultaneously promoting cooperation by establishing connections with neighboring regions for a more interconnected world.
This is an ongoing business focusing solely on Energy Arbitrage. The North Sea Link connecting Kvilldal in Norway to Blyth in the UK spans 720 Km and is a collaboration between Statnett in Norway and National Grid PLC in the UK (from March 2015 to June 2021). Originally priced at €2B, it yielded a net income of €2.75B in 2022 alone. The UK currently has 6 interconnections, including IFA and IFA2 (France – England), BritNed (UK – Netherlands), NemoLink with Belgium, Viking Link with Denmark, and NSL with Denmark (Matt Hinde, Head of European Affairs for National Grid, emphasises the importance of Offshore Hybrid Assets in energy transition).
This video by Dave Borlace discusses the £2.8 billion energy link between the UK and Germany. I view this as a significant project that could potentially incorporate connections for our TWEFDA Hub to help balance both grids.
Ofgem has approved a multibillion-pound electrical superhighway, allowing the construction of a 2GW subsea connection between Peterhead and Drax on the east coast of England. Additionally, Shetland has also been connected.
On January 8, 2025, we received the news that the UK and Netherlands plan to link their grids through the Nederwiek 3 Offshore Wind Farm.
Expanding the scope of harnessing is the most effective method to minimise intermittencies. A fully interconnected world would ensure that a lack of wind in one location, such as Scotland, does not imply a lack of wind in another, like Denmark. Importantly, the gradual establishment of connections between countries can be facilitated by the financially viable plans of each individual project.
