The rapid fall in the cost of renewable energy in recent years means it is now the most affordable way to generate electricity in many parts of the world. At the same time, the need for a radical reduction and even reversal of carbon emissions is driving cities, corporations and utilities to set ambitious targets for moving towards 100% renewable energy.
Wärtsilä’s innovative hybrid energy solutions support and accelerate this transition towards a clean energy future.
They combine energy storage and a flexible engine power plants which can be integrated with renewable assets, providing considerable potential for fuel and cost savings – especially in remote areas such as island and isolated grids where fuel prices tend to be high.
The value of the energy produced by a hybrid power plant can be enhanced with the Wärtsilä GEMS Digital Energy Platform, which uses data-driven intelligence to monitor, control and optimise energy production at both site and portfolio levels.
Adding renewable generation capacity to a power system isn’t the only way to achieve cleaner electricity production. According to studies carried out by Wärtsilä, adding energy storage to a gas power plant can reduce its fuel consumption and therefore emissions by as much as 6%.
The GEMS digital energy management software platform is built with end-to-end grid management capabilities. The platform uses machine learning and historic and real-time data analytics to optimise the asset mix, and enables customers to remotely monitor, operate, identify and diagnose assets safely, reliably and flexibly.
The graph shows a setup where five engines are operated at partial load in order to provide sufficient spinning reserve capacity in case of a disturbance in one of the engines. This situation is non-optimal in terms of fuel efficiency, emissions and maintenance.
The graph shows a setup where the spinning reserve capacity of the engines is replaced by an energy storage system, which eliminates the need to run a fifth engine. This maximises engine efficiency and minimises emissions and maintenance costs. Based on automatic commands by GEMS, the energy storage system can compensate for any loss of power generation capacity caused by engine disturbances until the disturbance is resolved or a standby engine is ready to take the load.
