Wartsila renewables power plant contracts have been signed for projects to move the Caribbean and for Southeast Asia toward a 100 percent renewables future.
The technology group Wärtsilä has won the contract to supply a 33 MW flexible power plant on a fast-track basis to the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BLPC), the utility company on the Caribbean island of Barbados. The power plant will be supplied as an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) project. The project will bolster reliability of the Barbados electricity system and integration of renewables into it. The order was booked with Wärtsilä in December 2019.
In Southeast Asia, Wärtsilä has also signed an EPC contract for a new 100 MW/100 MWh total capacity energy storage project. The energy storage system facility, including Wärtsilä’s GEMS, an advanced energy management software platform, and GridSolv solution, will be used for grid support purposes. The order was booked with Wärtsilä in Q4 2019. This contract comes in addition to the similar size contract announced in July 2019.
The Wartsila power plant in Barbados is to be constructed at a site adjacent to BLPC’s 10 MW PV solar plant at Trents, St. Lucy, located on the northwestern coast of Barbados. When completed, the new power plant will provide much needed additional generating capacity and provide BLPC with the fast starting capability and flexibility needed in order to add more renewable generation to the island’s system.
The new power plant will operate on four highly efficient Wärtsilä 32 engines running on liquid fuel.
The plant is scheduled to be delivered in mid-2020. The project will increase Wärtsilä’s installed base in the Caribbean to 3186 MW.
“This power plant, called Clean Energy Bridge, will bring stability to our generation capacity. It allows us to retire older engines, and reduce fuel costs while supporting the transition to using 100 % renewables. Once that target is achieved, we believe that the power plant will be necessary as back-up for resiliency purposes,” said Roger Blackman, Managing Director of Barbados Light & Power Company Limited.
In Southeast Asia, Wartsila renewables power plant systems are enabling the transition towards a 100% renewable energy future around the world by designing and building flexible power plant systems that integrate renewables, traditional thermal assets and energy storage. In 2018, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed to meeting 23 percent of its primary energy needs from renewables by 2025. The region is aiming to leverage its abundant wind and solar resources and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, especially as grid systems develop and economies grow. Wärtsilä’s new 100 MW/100 MWh energy storage project will help provide some of the reliability necessary to support South East Asia’s transition to renewable energy sources.
Wärtsilä’s GEMS platform has the ability to react near-instantly to smooth the integration of renewables, enabling the grid to emerge more stable and responsive. Grid support applications of GEMS include voltage and frequency regulation, reactive power support, spinning reserve, ramp rate optimisation, renewable energy output smoothing and energy arbitrage. GEMS will make it possible for grid operators to rely on renewables as baseload power.
