At-a-Glance

Wartsila will supply two 10 MW / 10 MWh energy storage systems consisting of its GridSolv Quantum integrated energy storage system and GEMS Digital Energy Platform software to Caribbean Utilities Company Ltd. (CUC) in the Cayman Islands. The project, which will be CUC’s first energy storage facility, will enable the utility to approximately double its renewable energy capacity on Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands. For more, read Wartsila energy storage systems keep island grid secure.

Key Takeaways

• The new energy storage facilities will allow CUC to operate its generating assets, including a 5 MW solar farm, in a more efficient manner, reducing fuel costs to electricity consumers.
• The energy storage systems will also facilitate up to a total of approximately 29 MW of distributed customer-sited renewable energy resources without causing instability to the grid.
• The systems are expected to provide extensive power system optimization capabilities and the battery will have the ability to react much faster than the existing plant, reducing the risk of customer outages caused by a loss of generation.
• The systems are expected to become operational in late 2023.
• Wartsila is no stranger to optimizing island power grids as its GEMS software and GridSolv energy storage systems are being used to manage 4.5 MW of wind energy, 1 MW of solar and 2.5 MW of energy storage on the island of Graciosa in the Azores, and provide 25 MW of energy storage for Bahama Power and Light.

Path to 100% Perspective

Island grids face unique reliability and resiliency challenges before considering the intermittency caused by increased integration of renewables. Places like the Cayman Islands demonstrate how steps are being taken to not only work toward renewable energy goals to reduce carbon emissions, but also to optimize energy generation and improve grid reliability in the face of seasonal variability and extreme weather events