Accelerating Decarbonisation Through Innovation
WSS Energy is an independent management consulting company that provides target-research and advisory services to support industrial decarbonisation. Our focus is to accelerate collaboration and sustainable growth through technology development and deployment.
We are:
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Sector specific and technology focused with a proven track record.
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Commercial driven with a strong technical understanding.
We believe that enabling new technology is the world's best chance to reduce global emissions to net zero. To achieve this, cost-effective scaling-up towards commercialisation is critical. Many of today's early-stage technologies are promising and will become an important part of a complex but comprehensive plan to address climate change.
The role of technologies in addressing climate change
Adaptation
Energy efficiency
Carbon removal
Eletrification with renewables
Lastest research & insights
Focus of the month
The role of DAC in battling climate change
Direct Air Capture technology captures CO2 directly from the ambient air and stores it underground or uses it in industrial processes. It involves a chemical reaction and several different DAC technologies are currently being developed and tested.
Currently, DAC is an order of magnitude more expensive than alternative CCS technologies such as capturing CO2 from concentrated exhaust streams or other CDR technologies. However, DAC have advantages which cannot be easily replicated by other CDR approaches.
Insights
UK CCS - a long and uncertain journey
The UK CCS market itself is clearly in an early stage of development. This development process is fragmented, with no established commercial model for sustainable CCS hub projects (at scale) and very limited existing transport and storage infrastructure that could be re-developed for CCS. If the UK is to achieve a viable and functioning CCS network with numerous CCS hubs the fundamental element is a web of transport and storage infrastructure, otherwise the whole concept of a network is undermined.
Research Report
Report on reservoir permeability enhancing techniques released by the Environment Agency
The project, through a literature review and industry engagement scope, investigated the reservoir permeability enhancing technologies that are most likely to be used in onshore energy extraction and production (e.g. oil and gas and geothermal) in England. The scope considered both subsurface and surface impacts of a range of reservoir permeability enhancing (well stimulation) techniques.
Project Updates
Future technologies for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs)
For synthetic aviation fuels, the main barrier in upscaling and deployments remains the accessibility of low-cost renewable energy over the time necessary for a $1Bn Synthetic Aviation Fuel capital project. The basket of applicable technologies is largely ready, however without cheap renewable energy, projects remain unbankable or only capable of being developed to a relatively small scale with significant government support.
Insights
The potential for deep geothermal in the UK
The development of Deep Geothermal (DG) in the UK has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by 3MT annually, in addition to creating 10,000 direct and 25,000 indirect jobs. Despite these drivers, DG has largely been ignored by the government and by developers, with no mentions in the Sixth Carbon Budget, the 2021 Net Zero Strategy or the Energy White Paper.
