Rolls Royce sets 2023 target for Series 2000 and 4000 updates

The engine builder announced that the certification of the most important mtu engine products to run on sustainable fuels would begin as early as 2023. The engines would then be successively brought into use. The sustainable fuels are understood to include methanol, as well as bio-fuels. The Motorship has previously reported on mtu research into hydrogen and methanol-fuelled engine concepts.

“The certification means that the new generation of Series 2000 and 4000 engines, that currently account for 85% of our sales revenues, will be qualified to run on second-generation bio-fuels and on E-fuels,” Dr Otto Preiss, Chief Technology Officer and COO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems said in a statement.

The engines are used as main movers and as gensets in commercial shipping, as well as in other applications, such as energy supply, heavy land vehicles, passenger trains and in yachts.

Rolls-Royce Power Systems also announced plans to introduce new technologies into its power generation portfolio, including fuel cell systems. From 2025, such fuel cells will be used for load balancing applications for compensating fluctuations in the public grid, as well as for continuous power and the provision of emergency power in, for example, hospitals and data centres.

According to a white paper published by Rolls-Royce covering the group’s perspective on future ICE applications in major end-user markets, hydrogen-fuelled fuel cells should enter the marine market by 2027. The white paper presented different scenarios around the penetration of hydrogen fuel cell technology in the marine market, citing regional fragmentation and variable application of carbon tariffs to marine fuels as key variables.

Citing Rolls-Royce Power Systems own plans to set milestones for gearing our production and value chain to long-term climate neutrality, CEO Andreas Schell called on policy-makers as well to put in place stable framework conditions for sustainable energy solutions “in the areas of industry in which we operate”. “This will provide clear incentives to participate in the changeover to sustainable products,” Mr. Schell concluded.