Innovation and Antifragility: Key steps to a net zero future

From: Daniel Carocha, Strategic Growth & Development Manager, LATAM, W?rtsil? Energy

There is a viable pathway to a global net zero emissions in the energy sector but obviously it will not happen overnight. Instead, the transition is a stepwise process that demands a lot of innovation until fossil fuels could be replaced with more sustainable energy sources such as natural gas, renewables, biomass and waste as the share of carbon-neutral fuels in blends increases.

Not knowing which fuel will become predominant, or if there will be a variety of local sustainable fuels at hand in the future, it's important to consider and find a balance between both local and global emissions.

A power system cannot run on hydro, solar and wind power alone due to their intermittent nature, which requires carbon-neutral fuels, gaseous and liquid, and perhaps even fossil fuels for balancing purposes, especially in locations where power systems are out of reach of the gas grid.

At W?rtsil? Energy we believe that investing and innovating in fuel flexibility brings certainty to an uncertain situation, and antifragility to investors. A flexible engine power plant is an ideal solution as balancing power, due to their flexibility in both fuels and operation profiles, as batteries alone cannot fulfil the balancing need for fluctuating renewable power sources.

Our expertise in modelling power system transition is nurtured to our vision to assist the world to decarbonize electricity faster and more efficiently to build a future of 100% renewable energy. We deliver technology that combines thermal efficiency, fuel and operational flexibility. Our engine power plants can ramp up and down an unlimited number of times per day and reach full power in as little as two minutes, granting operational flexibility by short response times. Fast ramp ups lessen fuel consumption and thus set-up emissions are lower.

By continuous research and innovation on sustainable fuels we ensure that our power plants perform optimally with these new fuels, playing an important role in decarbonising energy systems. We understand that the power plant solutions of today are future-proof investments, since the same engines will run on carbon-neutral sustainable fuels, either with tuning alone or through engine conversions.

For the transition, we see natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, addressing this need through W?rtsil?’s new hydrogen-ready engine power plant, which can be converted to run on 100% hydrogen soon. This new engine power plant is a significant step beyond our existing technology, which currently can run on natural gas and 25 vol% hydrogen blends. We are also developing in Finland new solutions with new fuels such as green ethanol, green ammonia, among others.

Decarbonisation is feasible and does not cost more. W?rtsil? Energy modelling results show that the transition from fossil-based to 100% carbon-neutral electricity generation will be viable soon.

However, huge additions of low-cost power generation based on wind and solar requires a reliable and secure supply of electricity both short-term and long-term balancing. The rapidly maturing battery storage technologies give great benefits short term, enhancing a clear vision for the Power-to-X-to-Power (P2X2P) concept, which enables long-term energy storage, turning renewable electricity via electrolysis into hydrogen. This hydrogen is stored and converted back to electricity by balancing power plants when wind and solar intermittency requires balancing thermal power to ensure adequate electricity.

The running hours for thermal power plants will substantially decrease and more dynamic operations are required overall. Another positive effect is the significant GHG emissions reduction on system level. Selection and testing of new materials and components are ongoing for the various P2X fuels concepts and the life cycle aspects are a vital part of that development.

Future-proofing power generation assets and how our technology can use different fuels are crucial to help our customers in their pathway to decarbonize their operations and be antifragile. At the same time, we understand it is difficult for them to commit to investments as there is no crystal-clear visibility into what the dominant future fuel will be.

瓦锡兰 forefront on research for innovation and development of technology is helping Brazil, Chile and Argentina to lead the world to a 100% zero carbon power system by building a foundation to enable them to retire high-carbon emitting coal and diesel-oil power plants.

Chile has set some of the most ambitious decarbonization targets in the world and our study analysis presents the stages and important capacity mix-related decisions necessary for a realistic and efficient decarbonization, reaching the country's carbon reduction goals, serving the load without black-outs while providing lowest cost for the rate payers.

Our projects in Argentina are ensuring optimal performance to multi-fuel power plants. Much more than developing and strengthening the national grid to supply?Argentina’s and avoid energy shortages, our solutions are having a significant impact on employment and industrial development for the country.

In Brazil, we are converting heavy fuel oil power plants to natural gas and some other customers planning to convert or build new power plants using biofuels.

This explains why it is so important to use all available low-carbon fuels in the future energy mix to decarbonise the power generation sector and to gradually phase out the most carbon-intensive fuels by using natural gas as a bridge. Furthermore, biofuels and biogas can already be used to decarbonise thermal combustion when locally available. By innovating and closing inflexible fossil assets and when flexible gas generation is converted to sustainable fuels the final push of decarbonisation of the energy generation will finally be reached.?

Learn more about The Key Steps to Front-Load Net Zero: https://www.wartsila.com/docs/default-source/energy-docs/technology-products/white-papers/wartsila_sustainablefuels_paper.pdf?sfvrsn=c49c5643_12