Once fully operational, the 200 MW fast-starting Wärtsilä solution will provide grid balancing to deal with rising volumes of intermittent wind and solar power supply. At the same time, it will serve as a capacity plant to back up the system in cases of shortage.
The plant will be powered by 11 Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on natural gas. Wärtsilä is supplying and installing the plant on a full engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis.
Gonzalo Granda, Business Development Manager, Wärtsilä Energy said: “This is an important step for Wärtsilä, as we are continuing to expand from our traditional markets in this region to a new key segment: flexible baseload.”
“We are on a path to a 100 percent renewable energy future, which means fast-starting and efficient load following flexibility will be increasingly needed to balance the power systems,” Sampo Suvisaari, Wärsilä’s Energy Business Director for Latin America North, pointed out.
It was also remarkable that the construction contract was negotiated remotely from start to finish, owing to the specific challenges of the coronavirus pandemic in South America.