Wärtsilä updates standalone software for GWh-scale BESS in Australia – pv magazine International

August 14, 2024 Eva Foley

From pv magazine Australia

Wärtsilä Energy has launched an update to its GEMS software, which it says will change the way GWh-scale BESS is managed in Australia.

The GEMS digital energy platform connects energy assets to markets and monitors, controls and optimizes assets at both site and portfolio levels. The new GEMS 7 version operates autonomously, supporting multi-gigawatt energy storage projects.

In Australia, Wärtsilä is using the GEMS management system across its projects, including AGL Energy’s 250 MW/250 MWh Torrens Island BESS in South Australia, and Origin Energy’s Eraring Power Station, Stage 1 BESS (460 MW/920 MWh) and Stage 2 BESS (240 MW/1030 MWh), in New South Wales.

Like previous versions, GEMS 7 provides a single, unified platform where plant owners can control and monitor project equipment, including BESS, renewable and thermal energy resources, and all plant assets.

The new release allows users to quickly and easily adapt to dynamic market and utility regulations as they transition to renewable energy sources.

said Ruchira Shah, General Manager of Product Management at Wärtsilä Software pv magazine that the technology is well suited to the challenges specific to the Australian energy market and is aligned with the country’s 32GW renewable energy commitment by 2030. It also includes enhanced alarm capabilities and algorithms to enable cell balancing and state of charge calibration.

“The GEMS 7 update brings a lot of benefits,” Shah said. “Not only do we now enable large-scale projects, but we also enable more intuitive visualization of those projects… For small projects, it’s easy to visualize a site on one screen because there might be just a few inverters and battery units. For a large project, you need to be able to zoom in and out of different sections of the plant. GEMS 7 makes that possible.”

Shah said the desire and need to continually update the GEMS platform to meet customer needs was the driving force behind the latest version.

“Two of the biggest trends we see among customers are the move toward larger BESS sizes and the increasing complexity of grid code requirements, and the desire for batteries to perform advanced functions such as synthetic inertia, black start, and grid forming,” Shah said. “Our GEMS 7 update is designed to support customers as they move to larger BESS sizes, while maintaining our robust architectural platform that allows customers to quickly meet dynamic market requirements.”

Key features of GEMS 7 include the ability to control multi-GWh BESS facilities in fractions of a second, while providing asset visibility down to the battery cell level, with more comprehensive visualizations to facilitate the management of large facilities.

GEMS 7 includes the ability to limit remote site control, reduce latency for rapid response events (critical in Australia) and provide continuous access to module-level data. The platform also offers site partitioning to allocate different revenue streams.

“GEMS generally benefits customers by providing a platform that can be easily adapted to new markets and new grid code requirements, meaning that when a new market emerges, customers can quickly enter that market if it’s lucrative,” Shah said. “Another advantage of our platform is that we maintain data at the module level. This allows us to spot operational issues that may go unnoticed or not be present in the data.”