Swiss marine power specialist WinGD has announced plans to offer the industry’s first ethanol-fuelled two-stroke engine beginning in 2026, with deliveries to both newbuild and retrofit customers starting in 2027.
Building on its existing X-DF-M (methanol) engine platform, WinGD will adapt the design by revising the fuel injection system and control algorithm to accommodate ethanol’s higher energy density and lower volumetric requirements. The new engine will retain the same low-speed, diesel-cycle architecture and be available across the full range of bore sizes currently supported by WinGD.
WinGD has been exploring ethanol as a marine fuel since 2014, initially through a Swiss Federal Office of Energy–funded study, and later via the EU-funded HERCULES 2 project, which focused on flexible injectors for alcohol fuels. According to the company, ethanol and methanol share similar combustion and emission behavior—making ethanol an attractive lower-carbon alternative, especially in markets where it is produced renewably from biomass and available at competitive cost.
Sebastian Hensel, Vice President of R&D at WinGD, emphasized the continuity between the ethanol and methanol development paths:
“This announcement is further evidence of the strength of our research programme … we’re pleased to be able to offer a further lower-carbon alternative to ship owners and operators.”
WinGD is currently in talks with shipowners, ethanol fuel suppliers, and classification societies about commercial deployment. The company has not yet finalized whether the engine will be optimized exclusively for ethanol or be dual-optimized (i.e. methanol primary, ethanol secondary). Further technical specifications will be disclosed in the Low-Speed Engines booklet to be published in early 2026.
