E102: An airbag for the electrical grid
E102: An airbag for the electrical grid  
Podcast: Everybody in the Pool
Published On: Thu Sep 11 2025
Description: 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 generationSynthetic inertia: batteries mimicking the stabilizing effect of spinning turbinesHow storage can act like an “airbag” — catching a wobble before it cascades into blackoutReal-world deployments: from the UK’s Blackhillock project to island microgrids in Bonaire & GraciosaReliability + resilience: sectionalizing grids after hurricanes, blackstart capability, and non-wires alternativesEnabling more renewables by smoothing intermittency and curtailment issuesWhy batteries are the “Swiss Army knife” of the grid: frequency regulation, voltage support, time-shifting, backup powerCost, customer adoption, and how utilities are (finally) moving past reflexive resistanceLinks & resources:Wärtsilä Energy Storage— https://www.wartsila.com/energyEverybody 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-poolWhat you can do & what’s next:Send me your thoughts: in@everybodyinthepool.com — 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 BatteriesE102 (this episode): Grid “airbags” & synthetic inertia with WärtsiläE103 (next): A rechargeable zinc sponge anode that solves dendrites — EnzincTogether, we can get this done. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.