Finnish energy technology group Wärtsilä has signed an EPC contract for a 100 MW/100 MWh total capacity energy storage project in southeast Asia.

The storage facility, including the Greensmith GEMS advanced software platform and GridSolv, will be used for grid support purposes.

Last year the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) committed to meeting 23 per cent of its primary energy needs from renewables by 2025. The region is aiming to leverage its abundant wind and solar resources and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, especially as grid systems develop and economies grow.

Wärtsilä said its storage project will help provide some part of the reliability necessary to support southeast Asia’s transition to carbon-free resources.

It added that the Greensmith GEMS platform has “the ability to react near-instantly to smooth the integration of renewables, enabling the grid to emerge more stable and responsive”.

Grid support applications of GEMS include voltage & frequency regulation, reactive power support, spinning reserve, ramp rate optimization, renewable energy output smoothing and energy arbitrage. “GEMS will make it possible for grid operators to rely on renewables as baseload power,” said Wärtsilä in a statement.