Wärtsilä Introduces a New Generation Engine to Balance Renewable Energy Production and Improve Power Plant Performance
The Wärtsilä 46TS is designed to use sustainable fuels as their availability improves, meaning these engines will play a significant role in power systems relying solely on renewable energy sources.
The Wärtsilä 46TS offers several significant advantages to power producers:
Significant leap in efficiency and performance: Over 51 percent efficiency saves fuel and reduces emissions. The result is excellent performance in extreme conditions and at high altitudes, in thin air.
Higher production capacity: A single 46TS engine can generate 23.4 megawatts of power, meaning even a large power plant requires fewer engines.
Increased flexibility: Fast response to varying loads, even faster start-up (2 minutes), no minimum requirements for running or standby times.
Fast and cost-effective installation: The modular design speeds up and simplifies installation work, and high-quality, factory-tested modules significantly reduce the overall costs of installation work.
Wärtsilä supports the maximum reliability and profitability of W46TS engines with customized, high-quality maintenance services. Wärtsilä’s lifecycle services optimize engine operation and guarantee its performance, thereby improving the overall performance and competitiveness of the entire plant. Expert assistance and support from the service network are always close at hand, including via remote monitoring.
The Wärtsilä 46TS engine will be available for sale in 2025. Last month, Wärtsilä announced the first order for 46TS engines, placed by Kazakhstan Caspian Offshore Industries (KCOI). The engines will be installed in KCOI’s new 120-megawatt power plant. This is Kazakhstan’s first hybrid power project of its kind, combining an engine power plant with wind and solar power generation.
Technology group Wärtsilä and international engineering and consulting company Elomatic have signed a license and cooperation agreement concerning the intellectual property rights, technology, and use of the trademark for Elomatic’s unique Elogrid solution. Elogrid is a grid-like flow control technology installed in a tunnel, designed to reduce a vessel’s fuel consumption and increase the performance of thrusters. The solution improves both the water flow along the hull of a moving vessel and the water flow directed into the thruster tunnel when using thrusters. This releases the thruster’s full capacity and significantly reduces noise and vibrations. The agreement was signed in December 2024.
According to the terms of the agreement, Wärtsilä has the right to sell, manufacture, install, and maintain the licensed technology in the sales areas specified in the agreement. The license and cooperation agreement has a term of 12 years and includes several interim review points. During the agreement period, the solution will be marketed to Wärtsilä’s customers under the name “ELOGRID™ by Wärtsilä”. The solution, which combines Elomatic’s Elogrid technology and Wärtsilä’s thrusters, brings together the hydrodynamic expertise of both companies. All Elogrid by Wärtsilä solutions are patented and designed by Elomatic. The aim is to offer optimal performance to vessel operators.
Elogrid technology is suitable for most vessel types equipped with thrusters. The greatest benefits are achieved in vessels with relatively large thrusters and a normal or higher cruising speed. In addition to improved thruster performance, a significant advantage for cruise ships and ferries, for example, is also enhanced passenger and crew comfort, as the Elogrid solution reduces noise and vibration levels.
Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a Lifecycle Agreement with CMA Ships, a subsidiary of leading French shipping company CMA CGM. The agreement covers 14 large LNG-fuelled container ships already in operation. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in Q1 2025.
The 14 operational vessels, which sail between Asia and Europe, comprise five 15,000 TEU ships and nine 23,000 TEU ships. All ships operate with WinGD 2-stroke main engines and Wärtsilä 4-stroke auxiliary engines plus gas valve units (GVUs).
Wärtsilä Gas Solutions, a part of technology group Wärtsilä, has been contracted to supply a biogas upgrading system to Danish bioenergy provider Maabjerg Biogas, a subsidiary of Skovgaard Energy. The plant will have the capacity to upgrade 6,000 Normal Cubic Metres per Hour (Nm3/h) of raw biogas, thereby significantly scaling up Denmark’s production and utilisation of biogas. The order with Wärtsilä was booked in Q1, 2025.
The plant is expected to be fully operational in Q1, 2026. It will be located in the Maabjerg Energy Center (MEC) in Maabjerg, West Jutland, Denmark. The upgraded biogas will meet Danish national gas grid standards and be injected into the national gas grid.
Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a five-year Lifecycle Agreement with NMDC Group (NMDC), one of the largest dredging and marine contractors in the Middle East. The agreement represents a significant step forward in strengthening the partnership between Wärtsilä and NMDC. It will focus on optimising the availability and operational efficiency of NMDC’s dredging fleet. The order was booked by Wärtsilä in Q1 2025.
@Pauli_Lohi has written competent comments on Wärtsilä’s strategy call.
Wärtsilä held its quarterly strategy call on Wednesday, where investors and analysts had the opportunity to ask questions to CEO Håkan Agnevall. The call provided more color on the positively assessed market outlook and especially on power plant deliveries for data centers. At the same time, the company reminded that the unpredictability of US politics is causing increasing uncertainty in the markets, which may slow down customers’ decision-making.
Technology company Wärtsilä has signed an agreement with EnergyAustralia to supply a 350-megawatt and 1474-megawatt-hour energy storage capacity for the Wooreen Energy Storage System (WESS) located in the state of Victoria, Australia. The project is significant as it is expected to enhance Australia’s energy infrastructure by supporting grid stability and renewable energy integration, aligning with the country’s ambitious decarbonization targets. The agreement includes technical design, delivery, commissioning, and a 15-year service agreement. The contract was booked in Wärtsilä’s order intake in the last quarter of 2024.
The 200-megawatt (MW) / 400-megawatt hour (MWh) energy storage system provided by Wärtsilä to owner and operator Zenobē in Blackhillock, Scotland, has now gone live. The Blackhillock project is the largest battery energy storage site currently in operation in Europe and is the first project delivered under the Network Options Assessment (NOA) Stability Pathfinder programme. The programme is an initiative promoted by the National Grid Electricity System Operator (NESO) in Scotland to improve the long-term stability of the electricity system. Owned and operated by Zenobē, a grid-scale battery storage specialist, the system will assist grid operators in the management of challenges related to balancing supply and demand, power stability, and constraints.
The Blackhillock site will be the first in the world to provide stability services to the NESO, making renewable power more reliable and secure. The stability services include short-circuit level and true synthetic inertia, which are essential for the grid to function efficiently as the UK moves towards phasing out fossil fuel power plants. The system will enhance the reliability of the UK’s growing renewable power system and help reduce consumer bills nationwide. According to Zenobē, the site is expected to save consumers over £170 million over the next 15 years.
The Blackhillock site is ideally suited to integrate wind power from three major nearby offshore wind farms in the North Sea, thereby helping address grid congestion. The system balances supply and demand to ensure the country’s abundant wind generation is not wasted, supporting the UK government’s mission to have a net zero power grid by 2030. Based on Zenobē’s calculations, the project will prevent approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere over the next 15 years as it will be integrating more wind power into the transmission network.
Alongside Wärtsilä’s Quantum battery energy storage system, the Blackhillock site is using the sophisticated GEMS Digital Energy Platform, allowing Zenobē to remotely monitor and operate the equipment. GEMS eases network constraints by importing electricity at times of peak renewable generation. Its data-based intelligence will enable Zenobē to participate in the most valuable UK electricity markets.
Wärtsilä is supplying a second project to Zenobē, Kilmarnock South, also delivered under the Stability Pathfinder programme. Kilmarnock South is a 300 MW / 600 MWh storage system built with Wärtsilä’s Quantum High Energy storage system and is expected to be operational by the end of 2025.
Wärtsilä Gas Solutions, part of technology group Wärtsilä, will supply the cargo handling systems for three 45,000 m3 capacity gas carrier vessels being built at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in Korea. The order was placed by HMD and booked by Wärtsilä in Q1, 2025. Two of the ships have been contracted by Singapore and Hong Kong headquartered ship owner/operator Purus, and the third by Pasco Gas, based in Istanbul, Turkey. Both owners have previously ordered similar vessels fitted with Wärtsilä cargo handling systems.
The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for delivery to the yard commencing in the latter part of 2025.
This could also benefit Wärtsilä, as it concerns gas engines.
AI translation:
"Microsoft
Microsoft Considers Natural Gas to Power Its AI Data Centers (Finwire)
12.3.2025 at 11:19
Microsoft is opening up to using natural gas to power its AI centers. This was stated by Bobby Hollis, the software giant’s energy director, to CNBC. In that case, it would be combined with carbon capture technology.
The decision is said to depend on whether the technology becomes commercially viable and cost-effective.
The technology sector has long invested in renewable energy, but growing electricity demand is now sparking interest in alternative solutions. Microsoft has previously invested in nuclear power and acquired over 30 gigawatts of renewable energy, the financial website writes.
The company’s goal is to be able to cover all its electricity consumption with carbon-free energy by 2030.
Exxon and Chevron are also planning to develop natural gas-powered solutions for data center power supply.
At the same time, the price of new gas plants has tripled, and the waiting time for construction is described as long. The production line now extends to 2030, NextEra CEO John Ketchum told CNBC.
He also estimates that nuclear power as an electricity solution to the problem is unlikely before 2035."
One inevitably starts to wonder about the impact of potential tariffs on Wärtsilä’s US trade and overall results.
Does anyone have more than a guess as to whether the service business would be outside the scope of tariffs? It wouldn’t have to be imported goods, but locally performed work. And if that were the case, how could one outline the overall impact of potential tariffs on Wärtsilä?
Tariffs hit new sales with full force, and in the service business, spare parts are needed, which they also affect. New sales, in turn, are needed to grow the service business.
I will not deeply assess the impact of tariffs due to Trump’s fickle policy; tomorrow there might be tariffs and the day after tomorrow not. However, Wärtsilä operates globally and has many operations in the USA, so tariffs can probably be at least partially avoided.
Below are the operating locations on the map and subsidiaries in the Americas:
I’ve been wondering what significance potential US icebreaker orders have for Wärtsilä’s business. To what extent is there an opportunity to be involved, LNG-powered engines, what else.
The technology company Wärtsilä and the Brazilian energy company Energetica Suape II S.A, majority-owned by Grupo Econômico 4M, have agreed on a collaboration to test, for the first time in the world, clean energy production using bioethanol primarily made from sugarcane as fuel. At the Suape II power plant in Recife, Brazil, an ethanol-powered engine will be tested for large-scale electricity generation for the first time. The project was booked into Wärtsilä’s order intake for the first quarter of 2025.
The test demonstrates Wärtsilä’s commitment to developing future-proof engines that can run on various sustainable fuels and whose low costs and emissions support the ongoing energy transition. The test is part of the WISE (Wide and Intelligent Sustainable Energy) program, led by Wärtsilä and partially funded by Business Finland.
According to the agreement, Wärtsilä will ensure the reliability and efficiency of the solution by conducting up to 4,000 hours of tests with a Wärtsilä 32M engine over two years, starting in April 2026. The test could be an important step towards wider use of ethanol as a fuel for energy production in Brazil. The federal government has included ethanol as a fuel option in the upcoming capacity auction to be held in June 2025.
Wärtsilä operates and maintains the engine used in the test in accordance with the operation and maintenance service agreement concluded with Energetica Suape II S.A. The agreement was booked in the fourth quarter of 2024. The renewed two-year agreement guarantees the reliability of energy production and includes performance guarantees for the duration of the customer’s current power supply agreement, which lasts until the end of 2026.
The 100 MW Sodegaura power plant in Japan, operating with ten Wärtsilä 34SG engines, has been successfully handed over to Tokyo Gas Engineering Solutions (TGES). The Wärtsilä engines provide the needed flexibility to enable critical grid balancing as Japan strives to increase its share of renewable energy.
The plant was built by TGES on behalf of its parent company Tokyo Gas, who will own and operate the facility. The plant is located in Sodegaura city in the Chiba Prefecture, and it will play a key role in supporting the company’s participation in Japan’s balancing market and newly launched capacity market.
According to its 7th Strategic Energy Plan, Japan is working toward a major shift in its power mix, looking at achieving 40-50% renewable energy by 2040. The new cross-regional balancing market in Japan was launched in 2021 by the governmental authority. The purpose of the balancing market is to bridge the gap between energy demand and supply during times when fluctuating renewable energy is being introduced into the system. By being able to reach full output within minutes of start-up, Wärtsilä’s engine technology delivers the flexibility needed to compensate for fluctuations in the supply from wind and solar.
Wärtsilä has established a strong relationship with Tokyo Gas over the years. To date TGES has installed 39 Wärtsilä gas engines in project installations. The two companies have held regular MTBF (mean time between failures) meetings aimed at optimising plant efficiencies since the early 2000s.
It seems that these icebreaker orders from the USA will materialize in the near future, and are not just empty talk. Whether the order goes to Finnish shipyards
or elsewhere.
So, doesn’t Wärtsilä have an excellent competitive advantage as an engine supplier with its LNG/diesel engine combination? Or are there other engines/manufacturers competing in the same market? I don’t have information on this. So, it would be nice to hear comments from someone knowledgeable about engine suppliers for icebreakers.
Caterpillar is a competitor to Wärtsilä in engines that would become the main power sources for icebreakers. One must hope that Trump does not demand that Caterpillar supplies the engines even if the ships were built in Finland.
