| Piston power developments


Grid-balancing: a growing market for Wärtsilä recips


Wärtsilä is supplying a total of eight 34DF dual- fuel engines to two new US power plants. One plant, installed capacity, 28 MW, will be equipped with three engines, the other will have five engines and an installed capacity of 47 MW. The order was placed by a “major American investor-owned utility in the Upper Midwest”, says Wärtsilä, with the engines “selected primarily for their grid-balancing capabilities”, as the utility expands its wind and solar generating capacity. All eight engines will run on natural gas, with the capability to use light fuel oil if natural gas is not available.


The fast-starting and stopping flexibility of the engines was a major consideration in the award of these contracts, notes Wärtsilä, with full output attainable in a matter of minutes. The engines also provide black start capability.


Next generation grid balancing Wärtsilä has recently launched what it calls “next- generation” grid balancing technology, designed to provide flexible grid capacity even in adverse weather conditions and to enable renewables to perform as the lowest-cost, most resilient power source for grids worldwide.


The offering is based on three fully integrated key components: the Wärtsilä 31SG Balancer engine; prefabricated modules for cost-efficient plant construction; and Wärtsilä Lifecycle services. The Wärtsilä 31SG Balancer provides 12.4 MW at a heat rate of 6800 Btu/kWh, efficiency greater than 50%, “lowering the cost


Right: The Wärtsilä 31SG Balancer is based on prefabricated power plant modules, reducing time-to-electricity by 30% (image copyright Wärtsilä Corporation)


Recips to replace CCGT in Japan


Wärtsilä is supplying ten gas fuelled 34SG engines for a new 100 MW power plant in Japan, interestingly replacing a 100 MW combined cycle power plant formerly located on the project site.


The fast-starting recips (able to reach


full output within minutes of start-up) will provide the grid balancing and peaking capabilities needed as Japan increases renewables. According to Wärtsilä, this is “one of the pioneering cases in Japan where a major power producer and supplier has


opted for gas engine technology for a utility- scale power plant with the main purpose of hedging market price fluctuations.” The plant also intends to participate in the Japan’s recently launched cross-regional balancing market.


Wärtsilä takes 40 million euro hit on Olkiluoto 1 and 2 diesels


Back in 2013, Wärtsilä signed an agreement with TVO in Finland for delivery of nine standby diesel generators plus auxiliary systems to the Olkiluoto 1 and 2 nuclear power plants. In October 2020, TVO initiated arbitration proceedings against Wärtsilä


prompted by installation and commissioning delays.


During the third quarter of 2022, an arbitration tribunal resolved claims relating to delivery schedules, additional costs, and liquidated damages for delay. As a result


of the arbitration decision, Wärtsilä will need to further shorten the installation and commissioning timetable and has now concluded a thorough analysis of how to achieve project completion and its cost impact, estimated at EUR 40 million.


www.modernpowersystems.com | January/February 2023 | 27


and risk of the renewable transition through flexible, resilient capacity.” The engine is fuel flexible, able to run on biogas and hydrogen blend, as well as natural gas.


The new engine technology is designed to provide power producers with fast-ramping balancing power, which can be scaled up as the share of renewables in power systems increases. The engine can start and ramp up rapidly to support intermittent renewable generation “so that the lowest cost cleanest energy technology can become the dominant power source,” says Wärtsilä.


The engine employed in the Wärtsilä 31SG Balancer has been designed especially for US environmental conditions, including adverse weather, to provide the optimal flexible technology and ensure continued running at times of extreme cold, or heat, from minus 40°C to plus 45°C.


“Extreme weather is intensifying – and ‘weatherisation’ is now a requirement in states such as Texas. Through the freezing winter blackouts in Texas last winter and California’s heatwave this summer, renewable plants supported by our engines kept running. Our fast-ramping, agile engines are designed for the climate-changed world utilities now operate in, enabling the greater deployment of renewables in grids around the world,” says Risto Paldanius, vice president, Americas, Wärtsilä Energy. “The energy transition is picking up speed rapidly around the world, especially in the US where, by 2029, solar and wind could be the cheapest in the world at less than 5 USD per MWh. Our latest grid balancing engine is designed to help utilities transform the energy mix of their power plant portfolios, so that the lowest cost technologies, renewables, provide most of the power, most of the time.”


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