Thursday 23 April 2020

Wärtsilä lands €1 million of funding from Finnish Government for carbon-neutral tech

Wärtsilä has landed €1 million (£870,000) of funding from the Finnish Government to develop carbon-neutral technologies.

The money will be channelled into the technology firm's X-Ahead project, which is working on Power-to-X systems - this term refers to various emerging technologies that use renewable electricity, carbon dioxide captured from the air or directly from emissions streams and hydrogen to create carbon-neutral and renewable synthetic fuels.

It believes such fuels will replace fossil fuels in the future and the project will see the company form and lead a network of universities, research industries, and small and medium-sized enterprises on a national, as well as a global scale.

The funding has been granted by Business Finland, a state-run public agency for funding important research projects.

Tommi Rintamäki, Senior Manager of Power-to-X at Wärtsilä Energy Business, said: "Wärtsilä has been actively working on the Power-to-X concept since 2018, during which we have gained a thorough general understanding of the technology.

"We are now building on this via the X-Ahead project, which will significantly improve the efficiency and feasibility of all processes relating to the development of Power-to-X technology. It gives us a brilliant opportunity to speed up the move to a 100% renewable energy future."