Technology group Wärtsilä will lead a five-year collaboration of more than 200 Finnish companies, industrial organisations, research institutes, and universities. The partners in this “Wide & Intelligent Sustainable Energy” (WISE) project will together develop innovative clean energy concepts. The consortium intends to strengthen the Finnish energy sector to become a world-leader in energy innovation by building a scalable ecosystem and by introducing secure and autonomous zero-emission balancing power generation.

The project aims to make a significant global impact in enabling the energy transition towards a fully decarbonised future. Wärtsilä’s goal is to offer flexible autonomous power plant concepts with the capability to operate with 100 percent e-fuel, such as green hydrogen and its derivatives, by the end of 2028.

“A decarbonised energy sector is inevitable in the future. The only question is when we will get there. The WISE initiative brings together industry expertise plus research and academic know-how to accelerate the trend. It gives us a unique opportunity to become the leading powerhouse for the energy transition,” says Anders Lindberg, President, Wärtsilä Energy.

An autonomously operated balancing power generation system will be developed as part of the overall renewable-based system. New service models for the revised operating environment will also be developed. The key enabler for this development will be to have the digital infrastructure, edge computing, energy management, and system optimisation working in seamless harmony. The ecosystem will evaluate commercial and delivery considerations, along with further technology options, to create viable business models.

The partners are together investing EUR 200 million in the research by 2028, of which Wärtsilä’s share is EUR 100 million. It is expected that this investment will enable an R&D increase of some EUR 350 million in long-term to support Wärtsilä’s vision of a 100 percent renewable energy future.

The project has been initiated by Business Finland, a public organisation under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Since 2020, Business Finland has launched competitions calling for leading companies to solve significant future challenges together with collaboration networks and to increase their research, development, and innovation investments in Finland. Wärtsilä will lead the latest collaboration project known as WISE.