World's first large-scale hydrogen engine tested in Spain

(11 Jun 2026) ASSOCIATED PRESS Bermeo, Spain - 9 June 2026 1. Various of inside Energy technology company Wärtsilä's 31H2 engine testing vault in its Bermeo facility. The engine is part of its Wärtsilä 31 platform, but powered entirely by pure hydrogen - this is the moment the engines were turned on and captured on camera for the first time 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rasmus Teir, Head of Sustainable Fuels at Wärtsilä: “Behind us here, we have the Wärtsilä 31 hydrogen engine running on pure hydrogen, meaning it emits no carbon emissions at all, running on green hydrogen, a sustainable fuel.” 3. Various of test laboratory where Wärtsilä's 31H2 has been tested - the engine is tested inside a secure vault and no people are allowed inside when it’s turned on 4. Various of Rasmus Teir stepping up to the lower portion of the engine and inspecting it 5. Close of warning sign on engine 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rasmus Teir, Head of Sustainable Fuels at Wärtsilä: “The long-term vision or the role of this product is for future energy systems that are 100% renewable. Meaning that you have a base of renewables, wind and solar, but these are intermittent forms of energy, so you need something to balance it. And that's where this engine comes in, to balance the renewables of wind and solar, providing firming to the grid and long duration balancing. Operating then on hydrogen, you can create energy systems, that are a hundred percent renewable.” 7. Various inside control room where the engine is controlled, as it is turned on for demonstration purposes, with monitors showing live camera feeds of inside and live metrics that indicate power successfully being distributed to the national grid 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Rasmus Teir, Head of Sustainable Fuels at Wärtsilä: “The energy systems of the past were typically based on a few different types of assets that just ran 24-7 all year round. With the introduction of renewables such as wind and solar, they are producing intermittently, going up and down, and there are periods when they are not producing, and that's why you need this additional balancing capacity that can fill up the gaps, and then it becomes also a bit of a control problem on a system level, but we have the capabilities to build and serve these total systems of the future.” 9. Various of upper deck of Wärtsilä's 31H2 engine 10. Close of electric shock warning sign on engine panel 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rasmus Teir, Head of Sustainable Fuels at Wärtsilä: “This technology is available for application all around the world. Large scale adaptation of hydrogen for the energy sector will definitely still require investments in infrastructure. So for a viable long term large scale it's going to need infrastructure such as hydrogen pipelines and more hydrogen production. And that's where we really need forceful regulation also to push these investments into the infrastructure as well. (Reporter: Do you think the regulation is there right now?) To be honest, no. It's not forceful enough to really generate these investments that are needed, so I think more policy work is needed there.” 12. Pan, wide of truck carrying hydrogen from supplier Air Liquide arriving at Wärtsilä’s Bermeo facility 13. Various of truck reversing into position 14. Wide of rear of trailers carrying hydrogen parked up, with some connected to Wärtsilä’s hydrogen systems 15. SOUNDBITE (English) Rasmus Teir, Head of Sustainable Fuels at Wärtsilä: 16. Various of pipes and valves being set to allow hydrogen to leave truck and be used as part of the facility’s hydrogen systems ASSOCIATED PRESS Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...