Wärtsilä rides solar storage wave in Hawaii and California

The company, better known over its long history as a supplier of marine power systems, has been adding large-scale energy storage to its portfolio in recent times. It says the new contracts with Clearway Energy Group add up to a total of 500 MW/2 GWh energy storage and will add vital grid balancing capacity to Clearway’s solar projects across Hawaii and California, states that receive some of the highest annual rates of sunshine across the US.

“The US is a bellwether for the global energy transition and projects like these demonstrate that decarbonisation is possible on a grand scale anywhere in the world,” said Håkan Agnevall, president and CEO, Wärtsilä. “Energy storage as a flexible balancing power asset is an essential component for a 100 per cent renewable energy future.

“We are very proud and grateful for being awarded these significant projects, which are major indicators of Wärtsilä’s position as a leading provider of global flexibility solutions for the clean energy transition. We focus on power system optimisation and the integration of different generating assets, providing our customers with the highest reliability at the lowest overall energy cost. Across the globe, we have been delivering energy storage systems at increasing scope and scale to help our customers meet their decarbonisation goals.”