Wärtsilä touts safety features, energy density improvements for new Quantum BESS solution
Summary
An increase in energy density also means a reduction in the number of containerised units needed per site, which the company said would reduce associated costs for customers. In March, Wärtsilä Energy director of product management and hardware Darrell Furlong co-authored a Guest Blog for this site with battery fire safety expert Nick Warner of Energy Safety Response Group (ESRG), arguing that a number of high-profile fires have dented confidence in the BESS industry. This point was pushed further by Furlong in an interview with Energy-Storage.news a couple of months later, when the Wärtsilä product director explained that the company’s approach was to always consider the worst case scenario outcome of incidents. The division is profitable with just over a billion US dollars’ worth of annual sales, and the Finnish company said it is not ruling out any options, which could include retaining a stake, through a strategic review. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place.