>>10946858OP here, I guess I should have been more specific I was thinking about combustion engines (external or internal) when making the post but stirling engine was the clear winner for stationary power generation (if you disregard the cost of building one) as only huge tanker sized diesel engines were able to compete with the efficiency of a stirling. Even if diesel is better I don't see any point in having more than 1 cylinder as the only benefit in having more than 1 is stable power generation which is irrelevant when turning an electricity generator
