Rolls-Royce Power Systems is taking the steps toward a climate-neutral future with a new emission reduction road map they have set out. By 2030, the business is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent compared to its 2019 level through the use of new net-zero and cero carbon technologies. This near-term target plays a significant role in the group’s ambition to achieve net-zero by 2050 at the latest. “With Net-Zero at Power Systems, we’re not just taking action to protect the environment,” Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls Royce Power Systems, said. “We’re realigning our strategy towards eco-friendly energy and propulsion systems. We already see these explicitly as growth opportunities for our business in the coming years.”
A key element in achieving these goals is the certification of the most important MTU engine products, which will run on sustainable fuels from as early as 2023 and then be successively brought into use. “The certification means that the new generation of Series 2000 and 4000 engines, that currently account for 85 per cent of our sales revenues, will be qualified to run on second-generation biofuels and on E-fuels,” Dr Otto Preiss, chief technology officer and COO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said. “The engines are used in a wide variety of applications, for example, in energy supply, commercial shipping, heavy land vehicles, passenger trains and in yachts.”
The company is taking a multi-pillar approach to reducing emissions: Besides using sustainable fuels, the business is also building on new technologies such as CO2-free fuel cell systems. From 2025, these will be used in power generation solutions, from balancing energy for compensating fluctuations in the public grid to continuous power and the provision of emergency power in, for example, hospitals and data centres. On top of that, development engineers are also working on engines powered by hydrogen and methanol as well as on concepts for decentralised Power-to-X systems. Other sustainable solutions such as battery energy storage systems, hybrid propulsion systems for marine and rail applications and microgrids already feature in the Power Systems portfolio for decentralised, environment-friendly power solutions.
“To make as big an impact as possible in the fight against climate change, the first priority of Power Systems is to realign its product portfolio towards sustainability,” Dr Preiss continued. “That’s the area we are concentrating on at present because that’s where we see the biggest potential for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. But this year will also see us setting milestones for gearing our production and value chain to long-term climate neutrality.”
The move towards sustainability began at the company some time ago. ‘Net Zero at Power Systems’ is in fact a further development of the ‘Green & Hightech programme’ and as such forms an integral part of the overarching corporate strategy that has been driving the transformation into a provider of integrated sustainable solutions for energy and propulsion since 2015.
