Thailand: Wartsila Power Plants Wins Two Awards for Technical Papers

Wärtsilä Power Plants has been recognised with two awards for technical papers presented at the Power-Gen Asia 2013 conference & exhibition and the Asian Power Awards 2013 event.

At the Asian Power Awards 2013, an annual event that recognises “best-of-the-best” practices in Asia’s power generation and supply sectors, Wärtsilä received the Bronze award for the study “Improving Power System Efficiency with Fast Flexible Power – Case Thailand” in the Innovative Power Technology of the Year category. Wärtsilä also received the ’Highly Commended’ award for its conference paper “Small and Medium size LNG for Power production”, presented at the main Power-Gen Asia 2013 conference. Wärtsilä’s awards represent a strong endorsement of the company’s commitment and dedication to improving total power system efficiencies through fast and flexible power systems.

Asian Power Awards

The Asian Power Awards study “Improving Power System Efficiency with Fast Flexible Power – Case Thailand” was written by Saara Kujala, Manager, Development & Financial Services, Wärtsilä Power Plants, and Sushil Purohit, Regional Director, South-East Asia & Australia, Wärtsilä Power Plants. It illustrates how creating a fast and flexible power supply using gas-fired combustion engines can yield savings of some USD 260 million a year for Thailand’s energy sector.

A total of 16 projects were nominated in the category, from which three winners were selected. The judging criteria included effectiveness, innovation, and dynamism. The case study submitted by Wärtsilä highlighted the power situation in Thailand where the requirement for flexibility is especially high. The country’s system is characterized by three distinctive load peaks within a 24 hour cycle, and an average annual growth in peak demand of more than 4 per cent. This creates a critical need to maintain and even increase efficiency through the inclusion of fast and flexible response capability.

In accepting the award, Saara Kujala noted: “In the paper we argue that the key to implementing cost savings is to assess the most feasible technical solution based on its impact on the entire power system, rather than sub-optimizing the efficiency of individual power plants.”

Wärtsilä’s paper concludes that flexible power plants can help to improve the performance of an entire power system, yielding benefits not revealed in a narrow power plant level electricity cost analysis. Investments in fast flexible power can be implemented gradually to match the growth in power demand.

Power-Gen Asia 2013 conference paper award

The successful Power-Gen Asia conference paper “Small and Medium size LNG for Power production” was submitted by Kari Punnonen, Business Development Manager, Middle East, Asia and Australia, Wärtsilä Power Plants. The study looks at the feasibility of investing in a single-purpose Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in conjunction with a power plant as an alternative to a power plant fuel feeding system. Natural gas is increasingly becoming the fuel of choice for power plant operators for both cost and environmental reasons, and Punnonen’s study makes the case for a dedicated terminal as a means of overcoming infrastructure deficiencies.

“Wärtsilä’s gas engine and dual-fuel technology is opening the doors to economic and environmental sustainability for power plant operators around the world. This study offers a viable means of ensuring the supply of natural gas,” said Sushil Purohit, Regional Director, South-East Asia & Australia, Wärtsilä Power Plants in accepting the award on behalf of Kari Punnonen.

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LNG World News Staff, October 10, 2013; Image: Wartsila