Page 12 - CARILEC CE Journal CEMAY2021

power plants. Stored electricity from solar power various assets accordingly.
will mean that the existing generators are no longer Specifically, the system builds accurate daily load
needed to provide ‘spinning reserve’. patterns and schedules the turning on and off the
Spinning reserve is when engines idle on standby engines to match likely renewable production, while
in case they need to produce extra power for the also (dis)charging the battery in an optimal way.
grid. With the battery system covering the spinning Cassandra Heller, Business Development Manager
reserve, the diesel engines will be able to be switched in Wärtsilä’s Energy Storage & Optimisation team,
off, saving on expensive fuel, reducing emissions, adds: “The fact that we can tune the parameters
and eventually can be retired completely. and correct the system was a big point for the
All the island’s energy resources will be controlled customer, in both the contract and the long-term
by GEMS from day one, including 10MW of batteries, service agreement. It was very important to have a
the south solar park, and the propane engines. GEMS user-friendly system for the operators. Having our
will seamlessly optimise the dispatching of a reliable expertise on hand puts the customer’s mind at ease.”
supply of electricity across the island, which widely
fluctuates as the island’s population swells from TECHNOLOGY FOR PROSPERITY
60,000 to more than double, at 160,000+ during the The impact of having a reliable and plentiful electricity
holiday season. When the solar park on the north supply on Roatan cannot be overstated, not only
side is complete, it too will be integrated into the for the islanders, but for the economy as well. The
portfolio controlled by GEMS.
Because GEMS enables the integration of
component neutral technology, any future resources
that RECO decides to install on the island and
accompany the utility on its renewable journey can
be incorporated seamlessly.
“Our new goal is to
SIMPLICITY AND SIMULATION
As part of the contract, Wärtsilä is providing training pivot the electricity
to RECO to operate the GEMS control system. The system towards
system is designed to be user-friendly for operators sustainable, renewable
and owners and is preconfigured to ensure it can
respond to a range of scenarios that could possibly energy production,
be encountered by the utility. incorporating the latest
Christian Wang, Wärtsilä’s lead software engineer
on the project, explains: “We do lots of simulations. clean, smart and flexible
We create a ‘digital twin’ of the island and run technologies while
various load/availability scenarios to make sure harnessing our spinning
the system responds correctly in those cases. The
system is set up for 90% of possible scenarios, and reserve component to
we can remotely tune the parameters and make any make a more efficient
corrections.”
Such scenarios ensure the system maximises the power gen operation,”
optimal use of resources and the best use of the expressed Ramiro
battery. It also assures a fast recovery in the case of Tumbaco, General
any asset going suddenly offline, or an unexpected
event such as a tree branch falling on a power line. Manager, Roatan
Data is key, with load forecasting ensuring that Electric Company.
progressively more accurate modelling improves
the running of the system. Weather forecasting
data is fed in so the system can anticipate the likely
renewable output and adjust the operation of the

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