Diesel Power A/S
The generating game
Diesel Power A/S is a specialist in the design and manufacture of tailor made propulsion packages and power generation solutions for the shipping and offshore market.
In addition, Diesel Power is the chief distributor for Mitsubishi Marine diesel engines in Norway. The company’s activities extend to being the main distributor for Mitsubishi Gas Engines, which it uses for gas generator sets to the marine market, and a representative for Mitsubishi Purifiers in Norway.
Diesel Power’s managing director, Arnljot Kristiansen, outlines the business’ background and its evolution over the past two decades: “Diesel Power was founded in 1985 owing to the distributorship for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ diesel engines. In the beginning, with the Mitsubishi engines, we sold to fishing boats and smaller vessels.
“After a few years we realised this engine worked very well as an auxiliary engine for ships, so we began major production of auxiliary diesel gen-sets for merchant vessels – and this has formed our main activity for the past 20 years.
We started off with gen-sets for diesel electrical driven ferries in Norway in 1996, with the first diesel electric car and passenger ferry. In recent years we have also supplied a lot of gen-sets to the offshore oil industry, for FPSO 
service generators, and different kinds of emergency gen-sets for drilling rigs and various types of oil rigs. In addition, we supply gas engines for ferries, LNG vessels and big coast guard vessels.
“The most important product we’re dealing with these days is gas engines, and in January 2000 we powered the world’s first LNG driven ferry using natural gas derived from the North Sea. It was the first time in the world that a purely gas engine was used as the main engine. Gas engines produce very low exhaust emissions; NOx emissions are reduced by approximately 90 per cent and CO2 is reduced by about 25 per cent compared with diesel engines. In addition to these emission reductions the gas engines have no sulphur or particle emissions. Our gas engines are the most competitive product in their class, thanks to the technology that Mitsubishi has chosen for these high-speed gas engines.”
Diesel Power produces customer specific gen-sets, meaning that it is very flexible and delivers whatever the customer wants, especially in the offshore oil industry.
Elaborating on the organisation’s current work, Arnljot reveals: “There are coast guard vessels travelling in the Northern part of Norway, in the ocean between Norway and Russia, which will take their gas from the new LNG factory in that area. Each vessel has four gas generator sets, and runs on gas most of the time, and two diesel gen-sets as well – we supply six gen-sets in total for each of the vessels.
“We are also working on a gas project, representing four ferries, which is a special project because we’re supplying pre-manufactured engine rooms that can be slotted into the vessel. Most of the equipment that’s needed is inside the container.”
Such activities are helping Diesel Power to maintain a decent level of revenue through the difficult economic period, as Arnljot explains: “Industry conditions are not great at the moment but, because of all the gas ferries and the gas engine projects, we are maintaining a sufficient level of turnover. This year will be a good year as we are concentrating on ferries and most of what we supply in 2010 will be gas engines. We are focusing steadfastly on the gas engine business because we have a very unique product.”
Diesel Power is able to deliver consistently effective services thanks, in part, to its full service capabilities. Spare part stock, encompassing more than 3000 items for Mitsubishi, along with highly qualified service engineers are available to customers at any time. In Norway, a network of service dealers takes care of local customers and for worldwide services and parts Diesel Power serves the market directly.
By providing complete packages that are tailored to the individual needs of each customer, and making an extensive amount of stock constantly available, Diesel Power’s service offering marks the company out as a talented force in power generation solutions. Looking to the future, Arnljot concludes: “Our focus will remain as much on gas engine as on dieselengine powered gen-sets. We are planning to maintain the level at which we’re working, at least for the coming two years – we may see expansion in the future but not in 2010. Our goal is to report the same turnover in 2011 as this year, and after that we shall see how the market develops.”
Diesel Power AS
Products: Gas and diesel gen-sets