Energy Cast Podcast: Bringing flexible engines and renewables together

07.31.2020

Energy Cast is a regular podcast featuring some of the top experts across all links in the industry chain. Those include coal, nuclear, efficiency, renewables, oil and gas, as well as top government researchers. Longtime project manager Jay Dauenhauer created it and has been hosting Energy Cast for several years. Click below to listen to the full episode: Finland’s Wärtsilä

Energy Cast is a regular podcast featuring some of the top experts across all links in the industry chain. Those include coal, nuclear, efficiency, renewables, oil and gas, as well as top government researchers. Longtime project manager Jay Dauenhauer created it and has been hosting Energy Cast for several years.

Click below to listen to the full episode:

Finland’s Wärtsilä has been a key player in the on-site power space for decades. The company has adapted to many changes in the grid mix and standby power needs over the years, and what it’s seeing lately is a place where diesel and gas-fired engines meet renewables, energy storage and the microgrid equation.

Click here to see and hear more Energy Cast podcasts and stories.

Wärtsilä’s reciporating engines are being deployed in places where renewable capacity is growing, such as wind-heavy Oklahoma and west Texas. In this Energy Cast podcast, host Jay Dauenhauer talks with Risto Paldanius, Wärtsilä director of business development for energy storage and optimization.

During the interview, Paldanius talks about his company’s acquisition of Greensmith Energy as well as the lessons learned that led to the embrace of fast-starting combustion engines to balance the intermittent clean energy on the grid.

“ We saw renewables coming (and) realized that is very beneficial for our engine business,” he said, “because the engines are very flexible–sopping, starting and highly efficient.”

Dauenhauer and Paldanius spoke during a break at last year’s POWERGEN International event. This year’s POWERGEN has been rescheduled for March 30-April 1 in Orlando.

Dauenhauer himself was previously executive director of the Clean Coal Technology Association in Texas. He also has worked as project director in power generation and transmission as well as a media analyst for TXU Energy prior to the $45 billion leveraged buyout of that company in 2007.

A Louisiana native and proud graduate of Louisiana State University, his career began as a TV news producer before transitioning into the energy sector. Back behind the mic, Dauenhauer hopes to bring his experience working across several energy sectors to you in a program designed to be accessible to both the public and industry insiders.

Dauenhauer also is a member of the POWERGEN International and DISTRIBUTECH International advisory committees. Clarion Energy is the parent company of Power Engineering, POWERGEN, DISTRIBUTECH.

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