Wartsila's power generation business is increasingly focusing on renewable integration in power grids as well as a decentralised approach to energy generation, Melle Kruisdijk, Europe area vice president at Wartsila power plants said.
The combination of renewables and gas generation “has a bright future in the European energy system” he told Gas to Power Journal.
“I do not see gas-fired generation and renewables competing, I see them going hand in hand forward to decarbonise the system” he explained.
Speaking of the increase in investments in gas-fired generation that Europe is witnessing at the moment, he said this is “a logic way forward” as “to decarbonise the energy sector you rely more on renewable energy sources, and at the same time you want a secure and reliable power system so you need something in the mix that is highly flexible and able to generate when you need it.”
“The cleanest, more flexible thermal units are gas-fired, so I think there's a good future for gas-fired generation as long as it is highly flexible” he said.
Asked about small-scale and CHP projects in European markets becoming increasingly more popular as an option when building new capacity, he said “we also see that” and this is an “understandable” trend. “With a fluctuating system you have a more decentralised approach, which also enables better use of power grids, or less investment in power grid systems,” he said.
“That fits with the concept that we have” for power generation solutions, he said.
“One additional benefit is that from an investor's point of view, it's less risky, or easier to invest in a 50-100 MW plant compared to 800 MW plant” he underlined.
Engines technology enables flexible generation
Wartsila recently announced it received an order for the supply of a 100 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant to Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden in Germany.
The smart power generation power plant, consisting of ten Wartsila 34SG engines running on natural gas, is scheduled to be fully operational by the end of 2018.
These engines “are highly flexible as they can ramp up from standstill to full load in a few minutes, and from full load back to standstill in 1 minute” he explained. “And you can do with all modules, so you can ramp up all modules at the same time.”
“The benefit of that is that in a power system where you introduce a lot of renewable [generation] such as wind and solar, you also introduce fluctuations [in output]” he said, adding that “this technology is ideally positioned to integrate the renewables in the power system.”
Moreover, the plant is CHP and “the customer is building a storage facility for the hot water, so they can decouple heat production from electricity production, which gives more flexibility in how to operate the unit.”
As part of the German climate action plan, the country has committed to increasing the share of electricity produced by CHP power plants to 25% of the total electricity production by 2025. To meet this target, the renewed CHP Act favours flexible and environmentally-friendly CHP power plants that can operate in the balancing markets, while at the same time generating heat for the community.
“Germany went through a reform process of the electricity market design last year” towards “a very dynamic market based system” Kruisdijk pointed out.
“That together with the increase in renewables is likely to lead to increased fluctuations in prices” he said, adding that “in such a system it's important to have a flexible unit that can react to price signals.”