Rolls-Royce Opens New €30m Yacht Engine Plant

Rolls-Royce has opened a new €30m assembly plant for its MTU Series 2000 engines at Kluften near Friedrichshafen in Germany. The investment highlights the ongoing role that Rolls-Royce sees for internal combustion engines throughout the energy transition.

To date, Rolls-Royce’s Series 2000 MTU engines have found extensive use worldwide and are used as propulsion and energy systems for yachts, ferries, tugs, wind farm supply vessels, mining vehicles and emergency power generators.

The new production facility - which was first announced in 2021 - has seen Rolls-Royce make a ‘mid-double-digit million-euro’ investment in the Series 2000 engine.

The new production building has been designed to be highly energy-efficient and climate-friendly. Features on the plant include a 1.2 MW-peak photovoltaic system that provides green electricity, e-charging columns for clean mobility solutions, and an intelligent building control system.

Commenting on the new plant, Dr Jörg Stratmann, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said:

“Our investments are a clear commitment to the region and to our products and solutions, which are important building blocks of the energy transition in various application areas. We are convinced that, in conjunction with sustainable fuels and new technologies, the internal combustion engine will play a central role in the future. Because it’s the fuel that matters, not the engine”.

Rolls-Royce’s investment in the new plant comes at a time when the company is focusing on developing engines that can run on a wide range of sustainable fuels.

The company sees renewable diesel (HVO/hydrogenated vegetable oil) as an important step on the road to decarbonisation. Many MTU engines from Rolls-Royce have already been released for use with this sustainable fuel.

HVO enables up to 90 percent CO₂ reduction as well as reducing particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions. Furthermore, HVO can be produced on an industrial scale from hydrogenated vegetable oil and waste materials from the catering and food industries.

In addition to internal combustion engines that can run on sustainable fuels, Rolls-Royce is also launching hybrid propulsion systems for rail, shipping and energy, as well as intelligent automation systems. It is hoped that these systems will be useful for applications where complete electrification is not an optimal solution.

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