MARPOWER Reports Midpoint Progress on Marine Gas Turbine System

Two-Year Update

The EU-funded MARPOWER project published a progress update on 20 October 2026, two years into its work. Hellenic Shipping News republished it on 21 October. MARPOWER is developing a gas turbine-based energy conversion system for power generation and cogeneration on board ships, designed to run on different sustainable fuels while improving overall efficiency. The project runs until August 2028.

Main Results So Far

• Design: the overall cycle and system design is complete, and detailed designs exist for the main components.
• Combustion: the first combustion chamber prototype was tested with 100% hydrogen in an atmospheric test rig. The results are supporting the design of a second prototype. The target fuels are hydrogen, ammonia, renewable methanol and renewable methane, with limited modifications to the combustion system.
• Turbine cooling: a new procedure optimised the internal cooling channels of the high-pressure turbine. In conjugate heat-transfer simulations, the resulting design requires a coolant flow rate approximately 15% lower than estimates based on standard literature correlations. This 15% figure is a simulation result.
• Heat recovery: a scaled recuperator prototype passed nondestructive testing and pressure testing at 22.3 bar. The design of the Waste Heat Recovery System is complete.
• Magnetic bearings: a new axial active magnetic bearing was integrated into a flywheel test rig, where initial rotor impact and recovery tests were conducted.
• Digital Twin: a first calibrated version of the general model has been established.

Still a Research Project

MARPOWER remains a research and development project, and the project describes certification as a future step. The second half of the project covers further testing of the combustion chamber and recuperator, a second combustion chamber prototype, and studies of integration on reference container and cruise vessels, which the project says are also relevant to existing ships. Regulatory work will consider an Approval in Principle (AiP) and a Technology Qualification Process (TQP) to support progression towards future certification.

Project coordinator Professor Jussi Sopanen of LUT University said the challenge now is to “generate the evidence needed to assess the complete system and its integration on board ships.” The consortium has eleven partners from six European countries, including Alfa Laval, RINA, Chantiers de l’Atlantique, DLR and DTU.

What It Means for Operators

For owners and technical managers, MARPOWER is a technology to watch, not one to specify. Its value at this stage is as an indicator of how fuel-flexible gas turbine power, hydrogen combustion and heat recovery are being developed for container and cruise applications.