The humble sugar cane has been sweetening our lives for centuries could it now start to power our clean energy future too?
Technology group Wärtsilä has partnered with Brazilian energy company Energetica Suape II S.A. to trial the world’s first ‘sugar cane’ fuelled engine for large-scale electricity generation.
We’ve been making ethanol from sugar cane for centuries and Brazil’s national drink the cachaça is made from the plant.
Brazil has used sugarcane-derived ethanol as biofuel in transport. Now, Wärtsilä and its partners hope to prove its viability for electricity generation.
The trial will see up to 4,000 hours of testing on the Wärtsilä 32M engine over two years, beginning in April 2026.
The project, taking place at the Suape II power station in Recife, aims to demonstrate ethanol’s potential as a sustainable power source.
“This project aims to change that by delivering thousands of hours of testing, which we hope will demonstrate the role that ethanol could play in Brazil’s future power system,” said José Faustino Cândido, Chief Technology Officer at Energetica Suape.
The trial aligns with Brazil’s energy transition, with the federal government including ethanol in its upcoming 2025 reserve energy capacity auction.
The trial aims to position ethanol as a viable alternative to fossil fuels.
If successful, it could mark a significant shift towards low-emission, dispatchable bioenergy, helping to cut reliance on fossil fuel imports while reducing carbon emissions.
