United States – The testing of hydrogen blended fuel by Wärtsilä in partnership with WEC Energy Group, EPRI, and Burns & McDonnell has been completed.
The experiments were carried out at the 55 MW A.J. Mihm power plant in Michigan, USA, with an unmodified 18 MW Wärtsilä 50SG engine. Certarus supplied the hydrogen and hydrogen blending skid.
The Wärtsilä engine continued to supply power to the grid throughout the trial period. This is the largest internal combustion engine ever to run continuously on a hydrogen fuel blend, making it a global first. The outcomes were consistent with all predictions. The detailed study will be released in early 2023.
Finnish tests
Wärtsilä started testing of carbon-free solutions using hydrogen and ammonia in July 2021. Wärtsilä conducted the first engine experiments using 100% hydrogen fuel at their engine laboratory in Vaasa, Finland.
The test findings were highly positive, with one test engine working exceptionally well when running on a fuel containing 70% ammonia at a typical marine load range. Another engine with pure hydrogen operation was also tested successfully. Wärtsilä intends to have a pure hydrogen engine and plant concept ready by 2025 for the energy market.
