Wärtsilä Spins Off Energy Storage Into Valo Joint Venture

Wärtsilä has transferred its energy storage systems business to Valo, a new 50-50 joint venture with German engineering firm RCT Solutions that became operational on 1 October following the deal’s closing.

The Finnish company seeded Valo with a portfolio of more than 20 GWh spread across over 130 projects worldwide. Despite that initial scale, Wärtsilä expects the venture to remain loss-making through the end of 2027, citing low recent order volumes and transformation costs — including the write-down of capitalized research and development expenditure. The total negative impact on Wärtsilä’s current-year operating result is estimated at €40–50 million.

RCT Solutions brings manufacturing experience in solar panels and batteries to the partnership. Wärtsilä says that combination creates vertical integration opportunities for Valo, among them supporting a BESS manufacturing programme already running in the United States.

Wärtsilä’s expectation is that combining the two companies’ expertise will stabilize Valo’s operations and carry the joint venture into profitability by the close of 2027.

Source: PV Magazine