Wärtsilä launches 'Quantum' high energy, next-gen BESS solution

Battery storage firm Wärtsilä has launched 'Quantum High Energy' (Quantum HE), a next-generation energy storage system with advanced safety features and enhanced energy density meant for utility-scale applications. 

An improved iteration of its 'Gridsolv Quantum' BESS product, the 'Quantum HE' utilises 306 Ah battery cells, optimizing the usable energy during the lifecycle and increasing the energy density of storage facilities by nine percent. 

The enhanced density reduces land requirements by up to fifteen percent and reduces the number of units required per facility, lowering equipment costs, expediting the development process and reducing maintenance requirements, the manufacturer claims. 

"Quantum HE is the safest, most competitive design on the market," said Darrell Furlong, Director, Energy Storage Product Management and Hardware Engineering at Wärtsilä Energy. 

"Over the past year, we have conducted several large-scale fire safety tests and participated in numerous standards to improve the entire industry's safety record. And we are committed to continue pushing the envelope, and remain committed to maintaining our 100 percent fire safety record for our 'GridSolv' Quantum energy storage system", he added.

The BESS features pre-fabricated fire walls to reduce the risk of unit-to-unit thermal propagation, along with centrally located dual sprinkler systems to improve fire suppression performance.

Further, the new solution is compatible with Wärtsilä's 'GEMS' Digital Energy Management Platform, which monitors, controls and optimizes energy assets on both site and portfolio levels. GEMS can support large energy storage facilities with built-in control features and power purchase agreement optimization.

Also, GEMS enables several advanced grid support services including black start, island operation and virtual synchronous generator (VSG) and it is evolving to provide predictive battery analytics.

Wärtsilä claims to be the third largest energy storage system integrator with a portfolio of over 3.5 GW and over 7.5 GWh of energy storage capacity awarded, contracted, or in deployment in global markets.