📋 Tender Overview
The technology group Wrtsil has launched grid balancing technology - capable of ramping up to 10 MW in two minutes - to bridge utilities to a 100 renewable energy future at the lowest cost. The launch comes as the company has highlighted a striking need to scale up flexibility worldwide with G20 countries requiring 3526 GW of flexible assets in the form of energy storage and flexible gas technology to enable their energy systems to run on 100 renewable electricity.The capacity needed to balance the G20s switch to grids powered by intermittent renewables must come from two key technologies 2594 GW of energy storage and 933 GW of flexible gas power capacity capable of running on future fuels. Future fuels can be produced during periods when renewables produce more electricity than is needed.Sushil Purohit President Wrtsil Energy said Last months UN climate report gives a clear message for G20 leaders to decarbonise at the lowest cost high levels of renewable energy must be scaled up by 2030. What we have learned from modelling over 145 countries and regions in our Atlas of 100 Renewable Energy is that power systems with high levels of renewables need a significant amount of flexibility through energy storage and gas balancing technology to achieve the transition to 100 renewable energy future.To meet the clear global need for grid flexibility Wrtsils grid balancing technology is part of a portfolio of products designed to cost effectively accelerate the energy transition. The portfolio consists of power plants energy storage and energy management systems. The first power plant solution in the portfolio is powered by the upgraded Wrtsil 34SG Balancer engine optimised for renewable baseload markets an agile fast-starting gas engine capable of ramping up to 10.8 MW in two minutes to seamlessly integrate with renewables. The power plant solution is based on lean design and it can be equipped with features such as unmanned standby remote control capabilities 247 data streaming and dynamic power management. Optimised performance and reliability is supported by Wrtsil Lifecycle solutions.Wrtsils power plant gas engines can currently run on natural gas biogas synthetic methane or hydrogen blends. The company is actively developing the combustion process to allow the burning of 100 hydrogen and other future fuels. Wrtsil has a long track record of successful fuel conversions for the global installed engine base.Alongside the power plant solution Wrtsil offers its fully integrated GridSolv energy storage technology designed for ease of deployment and sustainable energy optimisation and its GEMS Digital Energy Platform. GEMS dynamically optimises energy systems through a broad range of applications like frequency regulation to create revenue streams and enhance gridsystem resilience.Jukka Lehtonen Vice President for Technology Product Management at Wrtsil Energy said Currently the industry is in a challenging situation. Investments need to be made today even if visibility of the future is not fully clear. We have developed in an agile manner a solution based on existing proven technology which is future-proof and flexible. The solution can be adapted to different operational profiles and running hours along with evolving needs of the system. Using our solution renewables can be integrated seamlessly into different energy mixes as they become available. According to Wrtsils Atlas of 100 Renewable Energy modelling the lowest-cost 100 renewable system would require 12900 GW of electricity production capacity across the G20 by 2030 dominated by wind and solar. A significant degree of overcapacity is needed to account for the variability of wind and solar generation. Excess electricity can then be utilised to produce future fuels with Power-to-X technology. The modelling finds that balancing the intermittency of the renewable production with a combination of flexible gas and energy storage would be 38 cheaper for the G20 in comparison to relying on energy storage alone.
