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Case Study 9 — A City with Local Energy Inventory

Turning Surplus Electricity into a Permanent Urban Energy Asset

Montreal

The Challenge

Cities are producing increasing amounts of renewable electricity but still struggle to use it at the right time. Instead of curtailing surplus electricity, deployable REGEN facilities located throughout the city convert that surplus into reusable aluminium FuelBlades — Local Energy Inventory, manufactured in the city, stored in the city, and distributed wherever heat, cooling or power is required.

The Numbers

  • CAISO (California) curtailed over 738,000 MWh of wind and solar in the first four months of 2025 alone.

  • Spain's curtailment rate hit almost 11% of renewable output in July 2025 — a record.

  • Brazil curtailed 20.6% of solar and wind generation in 2025, more than double the prior year's 9.3%.

  • Transmission bottlenecks, not a shortage of renewable generation, are the primary driver of curtailment in most major grids

Why Existing Solutions Fall Short

Curtailing surplus power wastes generation that has already been built and paid for.

 

Grid-scale batteries help balance hours, not the seasonal and multiweek mismatches between generation and demand.

 

Transmission upgrades to move surplus power to where it's needed take years to permit and build.

iQ-LOOP's Solution

Local renewable generation and surplus grid electricity power REGEN, which manufactures reusable aluminium FuelBlades.

 

Those FuelBlades become Local Energy Inventory, and CREATE systems provide heat, cooling and power across the city.

 

The aluminium is returned and regenerated continuously — the city treats energy as a physical asset that can be stored indefinitely, rather than electricity that must be consumed instantly.

Example Reference Project

Distributed network of REGEN and CREATE facilities integrated with a city's renewable generation and grid infrastructure to capture and reuse otherwise curtailed electricity.

Modelled Impact

  • Reduced renewable curtailment

  • Lower peak grid demand

  • Deferred transmission investment

  • Long-duration energy storage

  • Local heat, cooling and power

  • Predictable long-term energy costs

  • A permanent, reusable energy inventory owned by the city

Why Now?

Curtailment is already a multibillion-dollar problem across major grids and growing every year; cities that capture and reuse that surplus turn a waste stream into a permanent asset.

Vision for the Future

Made in the City.

Stored in the City.

Used by the City.

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