DREWAG is a local utility company in Dresden, Germany supplying electricity, natural gas, drinking water and district heat for nearly 300,000 household and industrial customers. Wärtsilä delivers a 90 MW CHP plant providing flexible, efficient and reliable electricity and district heating. Along with customer’s existing assets, this plant ensures reliable power supply and further committing to renewable energy. A side aspect of the plant is its black start capability, where the Dresden-Reick gas engine plant will be very important for the start-up of the Dresden grid in case of a blackout. Wärtsilä will supply the black start capability without the need for a separate emergency generator, as power for necessary auxiliaries is supplied by a dedicated uninterruptable power supply (UPS) system.
“The state-of-the-art gas engine technology provided by Wärtsilä is designed to produce minute-to-minute power when it is most valuable. It is equipped with the highest level of efficiency and emission control systems to supply safe, clean, and affordable energy for the state capital for the coming decades,” stated Dr. Frank Brinkmann, Managing Director, DREWAG.
High efficiency and flexibility from the start of engine
The Dresden-Reick power plant will feature
eight Wärtsilä 31SG engines operating on natural gas and delivering an electrical output of approximately 90 MW. W31SG engines are extremely flexible and have the highest efficiency on the market. They are
capable of reaching full output from start-up in approximately two minutes to provide immediate balancing of the grid. The plant can operate on the secondary balancing market in Germany even from stand still. That means the plant will synchronize to the grid in less than 30 seconds. This is vital as the system utilises more and more energy from intermittent renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Due to its flexibility and “fast start to full power” capability the power plant will also support Germany in its energy transition towards renewable energy sources.
In 2018,
Wärtsilä delivered a 10 MW CHP plant to Thüringer Energie AG (TEAG) and
built a 100 MW CHP plant to Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden (KMW). According to
Melle Kruisdijk, Vice President, Europe, Wärtsilä Energy Business: “This is the second major CHP engine power plant that
Wärtsilä is building in Germany, and the first with our new Wärtsilä 31SG engines. DREWAG is well known as a leader in applying the latest and most progressive technologies. This contract represents, therefore, a valuable endorsement of Wärtsilä as an energy system integrator – our capabilities to understand, design, build and serve optimal power systems for future generations."
The Dresden-Reick facility will be delivered on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis. Wärtsilä will also maintain the plant under a Guaranteed asset performance agreement (maintenance contract with guaranteed performances) for ten years, with a five-year extension option. The agreement guarantees the plant availability and starting reliability as well as safe operation of the power plant. The plant is scheduled to become operational in 2021.
“The new power plant enables us to give a
concrete answer to the energy transition in Dresden. We are committed to renewable energy as well as to security of supply at the same time. The new CHP plant does both with its high deployment flexibility and black start capability”, says Dr. Brinkmann.