Wärtsilä will supply an engineered equipment delivery (EEQ) of a 40 MW / 80 MWh DC-coupled solar plus storage system to the Hickory Park Solar project in Georgia, USA.
The owner of the project is RWE Renewables. The Wärtsilä system will enable a subsidiary of RWE Renewables, Hickory Park Solar, to sell nearly 200 MW of generation from the solar PV panels to Georgia Power Company. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in Q4 2020.
Wärtsilä’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform will control the entire hybrid plant, comprising close to 200 MW solar PV and a 80 MWh GridSolv Quantum energy storage system. GEMS monitors, synchronizes, and optimizes generation assets at increments of 100 milliseconds, using machine learning and historic and real-time data analytics to calibrate the type of generation needed at any specific time, all under a single portfolio.
Wärtsilä’s IntelliBidder auto-bidding solution allows Hickory Park Solar to provide Georgia Power a day-ahead firming solar plus storage profile, which will improve the predictability of the intermittent generation. The cloud-based IntelliBidder uses machine learning and algorithms based on automated and forecasted data, taking real-time trading and combining it with a smart control platform that provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimization.
In addition to GEMS, the Hickory Park Solar project will see the deployment of GridSolv Quantum, Wärtsilä’s energy storage system (ESS). The project is currently designed with CATL batteries. With functionality a key feature, GridSolv Quantum is a fully integrated modular and compact solution that enables a holistic and intuitive ESS, while maintaining a minimalist design to ease the scope and complexity of deployment activities. The solution also delivers the lowest life-cycle costs and the smallest system footprint.
