After a rewarding 17 years serving to to construct a $100m information enterprise, I wished, like many, to do one thing impactful. One thing that fused my data of engineering and information science expertise to essentially make a distinction to the planet we dwell on.
DRIFT Power began on a summer season stroll with my son, then six years outdated, who pointed to a wind turbine on the horizon and requested why it wasn’t turned on. I defined that there was no wind to drive it, to which he replied, “Then why don’t they make one which follows the wind?”.
I had spent my complete profession fixing issues, whether or not they be engineering, enterprise, or expertise associated. This was a problem that I felt I needed to rise to, one which was larger than all the remainder.
Following the wind
I describe DRIFT as essentially the most capital-efficient, clear tech startup on the earth. We provide a brand new class of cellular, renewable vitality that’s unbiased of energy grids.
Excessive efficiency crusing vessels harness deep ocean wind to supply inexperienced vitality at sea and ship it globally. They do that utilizing an AI-enabled vessel routing algorithm that allows them to seek out and keep in optimum, climate situations.
In a nutshell, our vitality harvesting yachts don’t wait for the wind, they comply with the wind.
With the ocean masking 70% of the globe, I consider that it is a planet-scale answer to the myriad of challenges confronted by world communities grappling with the clear vitality transition. We’re viable in additional locations and might produce extra energy, extra of the time.
Our {hardware} property, our crusing vessels, are simpler to take care of than different offshore infrastructure property, reminiscent of wind generators. The whole answer is crucially as much as ten occasions quicker to implement.
Having mentioned that, I completely see our expertise as an ‘and’ answer, making a quicker, viable choice that enhances current renewable vitality sources reminiscent of static offshore wind and photo voltaic.
World’s first net-positive ship
DRIFT is backed by main deep tech enterprise capital buyers Octopus Ventures, Founders Manufacturing facility, and the Blue Motion Lab. We additionally gained a serious grant from Innovate UK. These investments are a significant step in growing and constructing what I consider would be the world’s first web optimistic ship.
We seek advice from our ships as ‘fishing vessels for vitality’. As they transfer by means of the water, generators on the underside of the hull convert kinetic vitality into electrical vitality that feeds an onboard electrolyser. By way of the method of electrolysis, water is then cut up into inexperienced hydrogen and oxygen.
Photo voltaic panels onboard additionally harvest clear vitality to energy the ship’s batteries, so we primarily depart nothing behind however pure oxygen.
Inexperienced hydrogen can be utilized to energy many various sectors, together with grid vitality, land primarily based and seagoing transport, off-grid web zero resort complexes, delivery, and heavy industries reminiscent of foundries and distilleries as only a few examples.
Navigating startup seas
We first demonstrated the manufacturing of inexperienced hydrogen on a demonstrator yacht at SailGP in 2022, after which an article was revealed about DRIFT in The Sunday Instances – a proud second.
In addition to quite a few excessive factors and accolades alongside the highway to date, we’ve additionally confronted the identical challenges that every one startups face. Specifically, balancing large ambitions with restricted assets.
Elevating capital, recruiting expertise, and onboarding clients, all whereas making an attempt to develop a brand new expertise and construct a scalable optimistic enterprise is difficult!
What made an actual distinction for the group at DRIFT is the sheer quantity of goodwill that has come to us from public, business, and authorities stakeholders. There’s simply one thing about that DRIFT lightbulb second – while you get it, you actually get it.
Ben Medland arrange DRIFT Power Ltd to assist sort out what’s a very powerful subject at the moment dealing with humanity – local weather change. Previous to founding DRIFT, Ben spent 17 years at Accenture as UK Lead Accomplice, Digital & Knowledge Technique Apply. Leaving as Managing Director, Ben has a wealth of expertise and intensive networks throughout quite a few industries, together with vitality and utilities, monetary providers, expertise and the general public sector. He began his early profession with BAE Techniques, who sponsored his Masters in Techniques Engineering at Loughborough College. Ben additionally holds information science {qualifications} from Northwestern College and holds Isambard Kingdom Brunel as certainly one of his heroes.
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