(Credit: Canva Pro)Wärtsilä will supply generating equipment for a new power plant to be built in Texas, USA. The approximate 190-megawatt plant will provide wholesale power to the Texas power grid. The order, placed by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) based in Austin, Texas was booked by Wärtsilä in September as order intake.
Along with the rapid economic growth being experienced by central Texas with a number of blue-chip companies moving into the area, they have also seen a 30% increase in population in the decade leading up to 2020. Such growth in this and other areas of the state have created a need for additional generating capacity to meet the growing need for power in the state.
As a peaker power plant capable of starting and stopping rapidly, the plant will provide power when renewable and other generational resources are insufficient to meet the needs or when they are simply unavailable to the Texas population.
Randa Stephenson, LCRA chief commercial officer said “This new dispatchable peaker power plant with Wärtsilä technology will support the Texas power grid within minutes, . . . we sometimes need more power that can be available quickly, depending on market conditions and demand. We believe Wärtsilä’s technology, experience, and technical know-how will be a good match with our plans to provide reliable, cost-effective power to our customers and the Texas power grid.”
Risto Paldanius, Vice President, Americas, Wärtsilä Energy commented that “The energy sector is in the midst of a rapid transformation where flexibility is becoming all important. The situation in Texas reflects very clearly these changes, with sharply rising demand being served by an aging fleet of inflexible power plants. Grid balancing is also needed in order to respond to increasing inputs of energy from renewable sources, and Wärtsilä technology provides this. We congratulate LCRA for having the vision to add further flexible resources to its portfolio."
Operating with ten Wärtsilä 50SG engines running on natural gas, the plant located in Central Texas is expected to become fully operational in 2025. Texas, an area often affected by drought, recognizes that the fact that each Wärtsilä engine consumes little to no water each week, is a tremendously important feature.
Wärtsilä has installed a total combined capacity of over 4500 MW in over 70 engine power plants and 15 energy storage facilities in the USA since 1981.
