Swedish Stirling

About Swedish Stirling

Swedish Stirling AB was a Swedish environmental technology company established in 2008 with the objective of advancing Stirling technology for converting heat into electricity. The initial concept, attributed to Swedish engineer Gunnar Larsson, was to utilize waste heat from industrial plants for clean energy generation. The company developed its technology based on a license from Kockums AB.

The firm's core business model centered on the sale of its primary product, the PWR BLOK 400-F. This container-based, modular solution housed 14 Stirling engines and was designed to recover energy from industrial residual and flare gases, converting them into carbon-neutral electricity. Each unit had a net output of 400 kW. The system's external combustion design made it resilient to the fluctuating quality of residual gases, a challenge that had caused other technologies like internal combustion engines to fail in similar applications. The target market consisted of industrial companies, particularly in the energy-intensive ferrochrome sector, that generated significant amounts of waste heat. A notable area of operation was South Africa, where the company secured contracts and pilot programs with major ferrochrome producers such as Afarak, Glencore, and Samancor. The business model involved selling these PWR BLOK units as part of a comprehensive waste heat utilization system.

Throughout its operation, the company focused on protecting its intellectual property, filing several patents for the PWR BLOK technology, including its overall system design, modularity, and the process for handling residual gases. However, after a failed capital-raising round in early 2023, the board determined there was an insufficient basis to continue operations. Following this, the company entered into a voluntary liquidation process in March 2023. In June 2023, TEXEL Energy Storage, through its subsidiary TEXEL Technologies AB, acquired all of Swedish Stirling's technology assets, including all tangible and intangible assets developed since 2008. TEXEL announced plans to integrate the acquired technology and pivot the business model from the South African ferrochrome market to the biofuel and petroleum industries, focusing on converting flared gas into electricity.