Continuing our Smart Grid Series , we zoom in on reliability — because building more solar and wind doesn’t matter if the grid itself can’t stay stable. We’ve seen what happens when it fails: blackouts in Spain and Portugal earlier this year, near misses in Texas, rolling outages in California. My guest is David Hebert , VP of Global Sales & Business Strategy at Wärtsilä Energy Storage . Wärtsilä is a 190-year-old company that now builds integrated storage systems combining hardware + software to keep grids reliable — even in moments of stress. We dive into: Why grid operators need fast, flexible tools beyond just generation Synthetic inertia : batteries mimicking the stabilizing effect of spinning turbines How storage can act like an “airbag” — catching a wobble before it cascades into blackout Real-world deployments: from the UK’s Blackhillock project to island microgrids in Bonaire & Graciosa Reliability + resilience: sectionalizing grids after hurricanes, blackstart capability, and non-wires alternatives Enabling more renewables by smoothing intermittency and curtailment issues Why batteries are the “Swiss Army knife” of the grid: frequency regulation, voltage support, time-shifting, backup power Cost, customer adoption, and how utilities are (finally) moving past reflexive resistance Links & resources: Wärtsilä Energy Storage— https://www.wartsila.com/energy Everybody in the Pool: all episodes & newsletter — https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/ Become a paid subscriber for an ad-free feed (and my eternal gratitude) — https://plus.acast.com/s/everybody-in-the-pool What you can do & what’s next: Send me your thoughts:
[email protected] — have you lived through blackouts? Tried a microgrid? Share this episode with a friend who loves geeking out about grid reliability. Smart Grid Series lineup: E101: Safe, long-duration flow batteries with XL Batteries E102 (this episode): Grid “airbags” & synthetic inertia with Wärtsilä E103 (next): A rechargeable zinc sponge anode that solves dendrites — Enzinc Together, we can get this done. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
