Andy Tang, Wärtsilä’s global VP of energy storage and optimization, talks microgrids, optimizing battery safety and revenue, and flexible fuels.Andy Tang, Wärtsilä’s VP of energy storage and optimization, sat down with me for a CleanTech Talks episode a few weeks ago.
In the Azores on the island of Graciosa, 1,500 kilometers from the mainland of Portugal, the 4,000 residents had wind and solar, but couldn’t get above 17% of annual demand. Their diesel generators have their own management requirements that can be tripped creating island-wide blackouts.
This is well-aligned with the other side of Wärtsilä’s business, marine power. Their biggest engine is a 20 MW power output brute. All ships are ‘microgrids’, and virtually all of the systems which aren’t pushing them through the water are run off of electricity. Every massive cruise ship and bulk freight ship is a microgrid. More and more of them have significant battery storage as well, although few larger ships have hybrid drivetrains.
Wärtsilä’s storage business is a subset of their energy business. They are looking at future fuels and are strongly focused on flexible fuel engines to get through the transition. Wärtsilä’smodels cost-optimal pathways to 100% renewable power systems in different markets with vastly different socioeconomic dynamics, distinct energy systems, and challenges to overcome. A key focus is how to do it in a cost-effective way.
Aligned with this, they are developing ammonia and methanol flex-fuel engines as the marine industry is considering both of those fuels. In my projection of, I see electrification being a bigger wedge than the industry does, in combination with ongoing optimization and innovation in ship efficiency, and consider it likely that biofuels that are plug-compatible with current engines are going to be a more likely pathway.
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