Wärtsilä has secured an order from Able Grid Energy Solutions to supply and maintain energy storage systems for two projects in southern Texas, US.
The Madero and Ignacio projects will provide grid support to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The company manages electricity supplies to more than 25 million customers, and was caught up in recent winter storms in the state.
The two interconnected energy storage systems will have a combined capacity of 200MW.
Wärtsilä will supply its fully-integrated GridSolv Quantum energy storage system. The company says this is designed for ease of deployment and sustainable energy optimisation.
Additionally, the systems will use the company’s GEMS energy management platform for monitoring and controlling energy flows. A Wärtsilä spokesperson said this will help with “grid support for critical periods during extreme weather or grid instability conditions, such as those that Texas has recently experienced”.
Wärtsilä Energy Americas vice-president Risto Paldanius said: “Energy storage is rapidly becoming a key asset for the global energy markets and Wärtsilä has a leading position in this field.
“In the planning of these installations, we were able to provide solid expertise based on our depth of experience in energy storage, and this added considerable value to our energy optimisation capabilities.”
The contracts signed with Able Grid include ten-year guaranteed asset performance agreements. These include maintenance services, an availability guarantee, and a flexible capacity guarantee based on usage. The agreements aim to enable system maintenance and operational flexibility to increase revenue in ERCOT’s market.
Able Grid chief operating officer Sharon Greenberg said: “Able Grid selected Wärtsilä technology, among other considerations, for its critical safety and cyber-security features. The system complies with all applicable standards, like UL9540A, to ensure sustained safe and reliable operations.
“In addition, the GEMS Power Plant Controller is US-code based and meets all IEC62443 cybersecurity standards.”
