Africa is ready to provide enough energy to achieve the most ambitious of goals, and it can do it while maintaining all environmental targets.
We believe careful planning of power systems towards more sustainable and diversified energy supply portfolios can save billions and rapidly reduce CO2 emissions. We create value through our extensive power system knowledge and experience from integrating different generating assets.
On this page, you may find our best materials and proceedings in energising and decarbonising the continent of Africa.
of engine power plant capacity installed
African countries with active customers
Wärtsilä engines installed across the continent
customers across the continent
With more than 650 employees and service hubs located in Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal, Wärtsilä is proud to have contributed to many industry firsts. These include Africa’s largest gas engine power plant on the Kribi coast of Cameroon with 216MW capacity, as well as Africa’s highest installation, the 175 MW power plant in Sasolburg, South Africa, sitting at 1,700 meters above sea level.
Another first, the KivuWatt power plant in Rwanda, is the first ever power plant to use the naturally occurring methane from lake Kivu to generate electricity and reduce the environmental risks associated with such high concentrations of gas. Today’s power output is 25 MW but future planned expansions to this project will increase capacity by an additional 75 MW.
Technology group Wärtsilä introduces GEMS 7, the latest generation of its GEMS Digital Energy Platform. GEMS is a mature software platform that monitors, controls, and optimises energy assets at both site and portfolio levels. GEMS 7 operates autonomously to support multi-gigawatt-hour-scale energy storage projects, a key advancement for operators as multi-GWh sites become more widespread. GEMS 7 also allows customers to comply with dynamic utility and market regulations quickly and easily as they adapt to renewable energy sources. GEMS has operated more than 100 projects deployed across global markets including Australia, North America, Europe, Taiwan, and Chile.
Key features for the newest generation of the GEMS software were developed in response to customer needs – including architecture upgrades that enable GEMS to control multi-GWh-scale BESS facilities within a fraction of a second, all while providing asset visibilities at a battery cell level. Additional improvements include more comprehensive and actionable visualisations for the management of large sites, site partitioning for allocation to different revenue streams, controls to enable and automate regular cell balancing and state of charge calibration, granular alarm management features, optionality to restrict remote site control, reduced latency for fast frequency response events - critical in both California and Australia - and ongoing module-level data access for users.
GEMS 7, like previous versions, provides a single, unified platform in which plant owners can control and monitor project hardware, including battery energy storage systems, renewable and thermal generation assets, as well as full balance of plant assets.
"An effective software system meets increasingly short response time requirements, provides ample data for monitoring and analysis to remote asset management teams, and is adaptable to changing grid requirements like synthetic inertia. GEMS 7 can seamlessly offer these types of services, and its new capabilities mean we’re even better positioned to help our customers adapt to dynamic global markets," says Ruchira Shah, General Manager, Software Product Management at Wärtsilä Energy. "Our customers’ needs are constantly evolving as battery power plant sizes continue to grow. GEMS 7 is a response to that need. It also further exemplifies our focus to mature our incredibly robust software platform."
Spanning grid-scale, hybrid, and islanded solutions, GEMS enables advanced energy applications that increase resilience and efficiency and can be supported by existing grid infrastructure. GEMS supports intelligent energy applications that deliver a true “renewables as baseload” solution.
Media contact for more information on this release:
Johanna Juuti
General Manager
Wärtsilä Energy
Mob +358 50 339 0852
johanna.juuti@wartsila.com
Image caption: Wärtsilä introduces GEMS 7, the latest generation of its GEMS Digital Energy Platform.
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Wärtsilä Energy in brief
Wärtsilä Energy is at the forefront of the transition towards a 100% renewable energy future. We help our customers and the power sector to accelerate their decarbonisation journeys through our market-leading technologies and power system expertise. Our solutions include flexible engine power plants, energy storage and optimisation technology, and services for the whole lifecycle of our installations. Our engines are future-proof and can run on sustainable fuels. Our track record comprises 79 GW of power plant capacity, of which 18 GW are under service agreements, and over 125 energy storage systems, in 180 countries around the world.
www.wartsila.com/energy
Wärtsilä in brief
Wärtsilä is a global leader in innovative technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine and energy markets. We emphasise innovation in sustainable technology and services to help our customers continuously improve environmental and economic performance. Our dedicated and passionate team of 17,800 professionals in more than 280 locations in 79 countries shape the decarbonisation transformation of our industries across the globe. In 2023, Wärtsilä’s net sales totalled EUR 6.0 billion. Wärtsilä is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.
www.wartsila.com
South Africa
4 Powerful Street,
Paarden Eiland
7405,
Cape Town
Tel. +27 21 5111 230
Nigeria
Wärtsilä Marine and Power Services Nigeria
23 Oba Akinjobi Street
Ikeja GRA, Lagos
Nigeria
Tel. +234 907 808 0936 - Marine enquiry
+234 8057217049 - New Builds enquiry
+234 708 624 3992 - After Sales enquiry
E-mail: Sales/Services equiries WNG@Wartsila.com
Kenya
ABC Towers - 7A, ABC Place
Waiyaki Way
Nairobi
Tel. +254 20 7602 400 (Pilot)
E-mail: info.wea@wartsila.com
Senegal
Wärtsilä West Africa
Immeuble Le Thiargane 7ème étage, Mermoz Place OMVS
B.P. 21861 Dakar-Ponty, Dakar - Senegal
Tel + 221 33 865 41 00
Fax + 221 33 864 42 72
E-mail: West.africa@wartsila.com
Madagascar
Fort Dauphin (Taolagnaro)
QMM Madena, Fort Dauphin, 614
Madagascar
Tel. +261 20 224 3267
Fax: +261 20 224 3253
Cameroon
Wärtsilä Central Africa
Wärtsilä Base, Essengue
Douala, Cameroon
Tel +237 33 50 54 00
Fax +237 33 50 54 99
wcm@wartsila.com for general information
wcmsales@wartsila.com for commercial issues
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