Wärtsilä news from Oman, the Netherlands and Nevada

Wärtsilä has extended the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Agreement signed five years ago with Musandam Power Company SAOG (MPC), a power plant owner in the Sultanate of Oman. The three-year extension will enable the Musandam Independent Power Plant (MIPP) to continue meeting all its obligations under the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) it has with the Musandam isolated grid authorities. It will also ensure a reliable electricity supply for local businesses. The extension was signed and booked in Wärtsilä’s order intake in Q2 2022. There is an option to further extend the agreement by two one-year extensions. 

The Musandam isolated grid is entirely dependent on this one baseload plant. The local region is rapidly developing economically and is a popular tourist area with a high demand for electricity. The power plant is, therefore, required to be available on a 24/7 basis except for routine checks and inspections.

The 146 MW facility was delivered under a full engineering, procurement and construction contract by Wärtsilä in 2017. It operates with 15 Wärtsilä 34DF engines operating on natural gas as the primary fuel. 

Wärtsilä for Netherlands’ largest energy storage system

Wärtsilä is completing the commissioning of its first energy storage project in the Netherlands, which is the country’s largest system to date. The company was joined by His Excellency Rob Jetten, Minister for Climate and Energy, and the CEO of GIGA Storage BV, Ruud Nijs, to celebrate the milestone during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct 6, 2022. The facility, called the GIGA Buffalo battery, is a 24-megawatt (MW) / 48-megawatt hour (MWh) energy storage system consisting of Wärtsilä’s Gridsolv Quantum and GEMS Digital Energy Platform.

The GIGA Buffalo battery is co-located with wind and solar assets at the Wageningen University & Research test centre in Lelystad. It provides Eneco, the leading energy provider in the Netherlands, with the energy capacity necessary to alleviate intermittency from renewables and regulate energy frequency while adding reliability to the grid. It also improves revenues by optimising the value of the renewable assets and providing capacity that can be dispatched during peak demand.

The Dutch government has set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 49 percent by 2030 and a 95 percent reduction by 2050. Recent reports indicate that the Netherlands will need between 29 and 54-gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2050 to support the increase in renewable energy generation and ensure reliability as the country meets its decarbonisation goals.

Wärtsilä will increase power output for Nevada Gold Mines

Wärtsilä will upgrade the performance of a captive power plant supplying electricity to a Nevada Gold Mines mining operation in the USA. The customised lifecycle upgrade is estimated to increase the facility’s power output on each generating set by 8%, support operational reliability, and ensure its availability during peak periods. Furthermore, it will avoid de-rating in almost all situations caused by the severe ambient conditions at the plant’s high-altitude location in the hot Nevada desert. The order was placed by Nevada Gold Mines LLC and booked in Wärtsilä’s order intake in Q2, 2022.

The upgrade includes the installation of Wärtsilä’s UNIC engine control system, a durable, all-inclusive automation system designed to provide reliable performance in demanding environments. This, together with the added power output, will minimise the risk of outages during the three-month long peak summer season. The upgrade will also increase efficiency and allow less constant operation of the engines, which in turn will lower emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.   

The plant operates with 14 Wärtsilä 34SG gas engines. It was originally installed in 2005 with a net output of 115.6 MW. Upon completion of the upgrade, the facility output will be increased to 128 MW. The upgrade will commence in January 2023 and will be carried out in phases to coincide with the plant’s major overhaul schedule. In this way, power production can be maintained to minimise the impact to the mine’s operations.

Nevada Gold Mines is a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corporation, who operates the mine, and  Newmont Corporation that combined their significant assets across Nevada in 2019 to create the single largest gold producing complex in the world. Both Barrick and Newmont are established Wärtsilä customers with plants in various parts of the world operating with Wärtsilä engines.