The Polarstern ice breaker is a research vessel operating in Arctic and Antarctic waters. After more than 30 years, the owners decided it is time to replace the existing Wärtsilä shaft generator system with two new sets using Wärtsilä’s PWM technology. Because of the ship’s operations in remote areas, reliability was a key factor in this decision. When delivered in autumn 2017, this will be the first shaft generator system using PWM technology with direct feed to a 660 VAC main switchboard without a step-up transformer.
