Wärtsilä Delivers GEMS To Energy Storage Project

Wärtsilä has delivered its software and controls platform, GEMS, to the 22MW Cremzow energy storage project in Northern Germany.

The Cremzow project utilizes the GEMS software to meet operational requirements of the power plant and to provide frequency regulation services to the German Primary Control Reserve (PCR) market. GEMS is designed to manage the state of charge of the system by actively participating in the German wholesale electricity market. Now in its sixth generation, GEMS utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making based on real-time and forecasted data (device status, weather, grid measurements and market data).

Greensmith Energy, a Wärtsilä company, was brought into the project by Leclanché for its expertise in designing, building and intelligently managing utility-scale energy storage systems.

Energy storage will play a vital part of Germany’s future as intermittent resources including wind and solar are introduced to the grid. An intelligent and unifying software platform is necessary to integrate and maximize all of the generation assets to ensure reliable and safe energy delivery to the end customer, the company said.

“This marks our third project with Leclanché. We are proud to build on our past energy storage collaboration to expand our partnership into the German market,” said Risto Paldanius, director, Marketing and Business Development, Energy Storage, Solar and Integration at Wärtsilä. “Ancillary services are a proven application provided by GEMS, generating revenue for the customer day one. Using data-driven acumen and decision-making in real time, GEMS deploys real and reactive power across the network in fractions of a second, creating a flexible system that ensures grid reliability and safety.”

An efficient software and control system is core to maximizing the performance and longevity of energy storage systems. GEMS is designed to ensure system integration and optimization of energy storage, renewable energy and power generation assets through changes in market conditions and structures – effectively “future-proofing” energy storage investments for both power developers and utilities, the company said.

Globally, GEMS is one of the most-used energy management software and integration platforms, operating in over 70 systems in nine countries. GEMS offers the widest selection of use-case applications, integrated with renewable thermal generation assets. Cremzow is the latest of the projects to utilize the multiple application capabilities of this advanced software platform with primary control reserve, energy arbitrage, and reactive power applications.