Wärtsilä evaluates 31 gas engines to find the ideal parameters to run on pure hydrogen and hopes to have an engine and plant concept capable of running on 100% hydrogen by 2025.

Wärtsilä, the multinational of Finnish origin, supplier of naval equipment for builders, owners and operators of vessels and offshore installations, has started to test its thermal balance engines using pure hydrogen and hopes to have an engine and a power plant concept capable of running at 100% of hydrogen by 2025, which will enable the transition to decarbonized energy systems around the world.

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Green hydrogen is forecast to cover 13% of global energy demand by 2070, but there are currently no commercially available engines that can use the fuel effectively, which could jeopardize net-zero global ambitions.

Wärtsilä is now pioneering a historic testing program to have its balance gas engines converted to use pure hydrogen as fuel.

Modify gas combustion engines

The project in Vaasa, Finland will evaluate Wärtsilä's existing technology of 31 gas engines to find the optimal parameters for running on hydrogen. Today, Wärtsilä gas engines are used for the flexible generation of balance power for power systems with high levels of renewable energy.

Green hydrogen, developed from renewable energy by electrolysis, and hydrogen-based green fuels will provide long-term energy storage.

They will work together with renewable generation and short-term storage (such as lithium-ion batteries) to create secure and completely decarbonized energy systems. According to the Wärtsilä energy system model, in the G20 alone, more than 11.000 GW of wind and solar energy are needed to create 100% renewable energy systems.

It will take 933 GW of carbon neutral thermal balance capacity to allow this amount of renewable energy to be included and stabilize these future power systems. The ability to modify existing engines to use hydrogen and hydrogen fuels when widely available is crucial to achieving global decarbonization targets.

Internal combustion engine is a key technology to enable the growth of renewable energy

The internal combustion engine is a key technology enabling the growth of renewable energy today, providing the flexibility needed to support intermittent wind and solar power generation.

Many countries are investing in new, highly efficient engines to support the sustainable acceleration of renewable energy. Being able to modify engines in the future to use carbon-neutral fuels such as green hydrogen and green hydrogen-based fuels means energy companies can safely invest now to enable 100% renewable systems required by mid-century, without running risks of investing in stranded assets.

Håkan Agnevall, CEO of Wärtsilä, said: “This is a historic moment in the global energy transition. Global societies will have to invest billions in the infrastructure needed to develop green hydrogen, but that investment depends on having market-ready engines that can run on the fuel when it becomes available.”

“Our model shows that a significant amount of thermal equilibrium is required by the middle of this century to achieve the transition to 100% renewable energy. By developing engines today that can run on hydrogen tomorrow, we are future-proofing energy systems to become 100% renewable by 2050.”

Wärtsilä's business

Wärtsilä's grid balancing portfolio, comprising power plants, energy storage and energy management systems, efficiently manages a high proportion of renewable energy. It also creates conditions to produce future carbon-neutral fuels that can decarbonize energy-intensive sectors, from energy to mobility.

Wärtsilä is one of the world's leading developers of thermal balancing and energy storage technology. It offers the essential flexibility needed to rapidly accelerate the global shift to 100% renewable energy systems.

Installed a total of 74 GW of power plant capacity in 180 countries around the world, including an increasing percentage of thermal balance and more than 80 energy storage systems.

Wärtsilä engines are capable of reaching full load in two minutes and can currently run on natural gas, biogas, synthetic mixtures of methane or hydrogen, with a mixing possibility of up to 25% hydrogen already tested today.

In parallel, Wärtsilä is testing engines for ammonia and methanol, two future alternative fuels that will support the decarbonization of the maritime sector and help the International Maritime Organization to achieve its goal of reducing emissions of TEE sector by 50% by 2050.