Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has transferred its global energy storage business to Valo, a joint venture it owns equally with German engineering company RCT Solutions, and said it expects the new company to lose money in 2026 before turning positive toward the end of 2027.

Valo, a utility-scale BESS integrator that includes Wärtsilä’s Energy Storage business, launched on Oct. 1 after Wärtsilä and RCT Solutions closed their joint venture. Valo said it starts with more than 20 GWh across more than 130 projects worldwide. Peter Fath, previously CEO of RCT Solutions, is the CEO of the new venture, and Luke Witmer is chief technology officer.

Wärtsilä announced the deal on June 15 and said it would transfer net assets representing less than 5% of its total net assets. Closing was subject to regulatory approvals and the arrangement of a financing package. New investors may join later, which could dilute the two founding shareholders, and the joint venture will benefit from project guarantees Wärtsilä has already issued on ongoing projects, said the Helsinki-based group.

Wärtsilä also stated that the joint venture would be loss-making in 2026 because of low recent order intake and transformation costs, mainly a write-down of capitalized R&D. 2 million) to €50 million, depending on the timing of closing, and said it expects the joint venture to generate positive results toward the end of 2027. Its Oct. 1 closing release reiterated the 2026 loss expectation .

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